As the mom of two teens and one 1998 Oldsmobile, I appreciate this car-safety think piece, sent to us by Kari Oakes. Kari is a physician assistant, medical writer, and the mother of two teens, too. She’s also an executive board member of the nonprofit Start School Later. Parents of Teens: You’re Not Worrying Enough! My friend’s FB status last night featured this story, with the comment “Something else to worry about….” The headline? That Cheap Old Car May Carry Deadly Cost for Teens. She and her husband are buying a new car with plans to pass their older-but-serviceable…
Author: lskenazy
Remember the Milk Carton Kids — the faces we saw each morning, usually under the headline, “Missing!” or, “Have you seen me?” I’d love to hear your memories of those cartons and the impact they had (or still have) on you, for a piece I’m writing. Chime in! Thanks! – L
I’ll admit — this video is fascinating. But once again, here we are preparing for the worst of the worst, which means acting as if it’s not too far-fetched to imagine the day we are assaulted by a madman with sticky tape. I realize that a segment on how to plunge your toilet, or get a turkey to brown without drying it out might not be quite as compelling. But really, Dateline. What’s next? How to de-fang snakes on a plane?
Raising Free-Range Kids is really all about raising kids who can do things on their own. Not because we don’t want to help them, but because we want them to be able to help themselves (and others!). So I was delighted to read “Five Changes I’d Make If I Could Parent Over Again,” by Tim Elmore on his engaging blog, Growing Leaders. I will post some of his other insights as the days go by. But first, Tip #1? I would do less preventing and more preparing. In our effort to ensure that our kids experience no major catastrophies in…
Big news, readers! World’s Worst Mom — a reality show hosted by yours truly — is coming to TV! It debuts Jan. 22 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. You can see little glimpses of it in this promo for the whole lineup on new channel it’s on, Discovery: Life (formerly “Discovery Fit & Health”). Woo hoo! Each week I visit a different family where one or both of the parents are very anxious for their kids’s safety. One mom, for instance, allows her son, 8, to skateboard — provided he just stands on the board, not moving, on the lawn.…
Readers — Here’s a mom in a tough spot, looking for some great ideas. When we give our kids responsibility and independence, the results are usually wonderful. But I’m not sure of exactly how to do that in this situation (young child, special needs, in hiding), other than to start out by having her girl help preparing food — a fun and immediately rewarding way to do something “grown up.” Please pitch in with more suggestions! – L Dear Free-Range Kids: Here’s our situation. I’m a single mom of a special needs 5 year old. She requires constant supervision because…
Readers, after my post about the $19.95 “Find’Em” scent kit that saves your child’s scent to share with the search and rescue dogs, one of you, a Mr. Adams, complained to the company on Facebook about its home page, which declares: “In the U.S. a Child Goes Missing Every 40 Seconds.” Mr. Adams wrote: It is absolutely abhorrent that you use such ridiculous and untrue scare tactics to peddle your wares. The statistic you cite has no relation whatsoever to the actual (extremely small) number of kids who are abducted and need to be “tracked.” Shameful. Find’em Scent Kit…
Readers — This is a clip from HBO’s The Newsroom, about a news team deciding if and how to obsess about the Casey Anthony case. Of course it’s fiction, but boy — writer Sorkin really understands how TV works. (He should!) The part where the expert in the news meeting breaks down a few minutes of the Nancy Grace show should be required viewing in every journalism school in America. Heck, in every SCHOOL in America, so we get a little insight into what’s being thrown at us and what it does to our brains. And thanks to Donald Christensen…
Readers — Allow me to tiptoe off topic, slightly, to print this comment that came a while back in response to “An Insane Focus on Safety, Including the Hazard of ‘Eating Bread.'” As you know, Free-Range is all about battling hysteria when it comes to the idea that NOTHING is safe enough for our kids. When I see evidence of this beyond parenting, I realize our mission, more broadly, is to fight back the creeping conviction that only by non-stop focusing on safety and its handmaiden, DISASTER, can we be considered responsible. Which is a long way of saying I…
This festive season, remind parents that their precious kids could be abducted and killed if the rescue dogs don’t find them immediately. What better way to send happy holiday greetings than the $19.99 FindEm Kit, that preserves a child’s scent for the day they are abducted? As the website declares, “A Child Goes Missing Every 40 Seconds.” Ok, so they forgot to add that a child going missing has nothing to do with the number of children who are actually abducted. Just like the number of children falling off swings is not the same as the number of children who…