Readers — This “incident” took place the other afternoon on Prince Edward Island, Canada. A bus from the Red Cross swim program arrived a little early to the bus stop (the local school parking lot), so the driver dropping off a brother and sister, 7 and 9, told them to wait in the shade. And then — gasp — he anbnhezink left them alone. Their parents, Nicole and Martin Rogers, arrived not 10 minutes later and were livid: “I was scared,” Rodgers said in an interview on Wednesday. “I’ve never been so scared and so mad at the same time…
Author: lskenazy
Readers, the prosecution knows when to let it go. (Yes, yes.) According to the Associated Press: Police and prosecutors faced a wave of criticism following news media reports that they had obtained a warrant to take photos of the teen’s erect penis. Police wanted the pictures to compare against photos he is accused of sending to his 15-year-old girlfriend at the time. On Thursday, Manassas Police Lt. Brian Larkin said the Police Department will not proceed with the plan to take the pictures and will let a search warrant authorizing the photos to expire. I’m sure the teen’s guardian is…
Readers — This mom needs your advice. So do I! Dear Free-Range Kids: I am a long time follower and was doing Free-Range before I knew what Free-Range was. (We are also unschoolers a la Peter Gray – before he knew what that was lol.)I have 6 children, ages 20 yrs to 7 months. We live in a fairly larger metro of appx 2m (Kansas City if that is relevant). It is fairly diverse on an economic, racial, education, etc level. Our city is really struggling with what would best be described as large groups of roving…
Readers — Oh, the puns I will refrain from. (Though it’s…hard!) Suffice to say, there are many problems with America’s sex offender laws, but perhaps this case illustrates their absurdity best. As Robby Soave writes at Reason: The authorities in Prince William County, Virginia, are pursuing child pornography charges against a 17 year old who exchanged nude picture texts with his 15-year-old girlfriend. The police have even filed a warrant that would permit them to take the teen to the hospital, give him an erection-producing injection, and photograph his penis. Prosecutors want to compare this photograph to the one the…
Let’s hear it for Dear Prudence, the advice lady over at Slate, who was recently sent this letter: Q. Negligence or Get Over It? Our child recently flew to overnight camp, and we arranged for my in-laws to pick him up from the airport. He is 12 years old and is technically allowed to fly unaccompanied but is still very much a minor, albeit a tall one! Having flown many times before, we were comfortable with the idea of our son walking alone from the gate to the baggage carousel and were very particular to tell my in-laws to be…
Let’s hear it for Nashua, NH, a child-friendly city indeed! Take note, all ye urbanists, city planners, and mayors: Look at how simple a summer-changing, childhood changing idea can be. Nashua is giving kids the gift of transit — and trust. According to the Nashua Patch: The city of Nashua will launch a summer recreation route bus service that will run from July 7 to Aug. 22.The pilot program will stop at at popular sites in the city in a continuous loop from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. The service is free for all school-aged children (6…
Folks: I sometimes can’t stand how we don’t trust any ideas or instincts unless they are backed up with some official study. However, “science-based” parenting being the obsession of our era, I am thrilled to present this study by University of Colorado-Boulder psychology and neuroscience Professor Yuko Munakata and doctoral student/lead author Jane Barker, as reported in Science Daily, which found that: Kids whose time is less structured are better able to meet their own goals, study shows Munakata said a debate about parenting philosophy — with extremely rigid “tiger moms” on one side and more elastic “free-range” parents on…
When — all-knowing meets all-fearing: Dear Free-Range Kids: Facebook is now aware that I have a newborn, and my targeted ads are full of products to make my kid more “safe” including a GPS tag and this magnet that is supposed to keep my kid from being hit by a car in a parking lot by enticing him to stand with his hand up against the vehicle like he was participating in a stop-and-frisk – Allison Huebert Lenore here: There really should be a welcome page: Congratulations on your new, incredibly vulnerable bundle of joy and welcome to the World…
Readers — This look at cartoon culture comes to us from Dressler Parsons, a content writer at the Arizona-based SAT prep outfit, Student-Tutor. I haven’t seen this cartoon but it does sound great! – L Phineas & Ferb & Fighting the Urge to Helicopter, by Dressler Parsons It seems like the cartoons and kids’ shows that seep into society shoot down Free-Range Parenting. I mean, stereotypically, unsupervised kids run wild and wreak havoc. As far parents, if they’re even introduced, they’re usually bumbling, incompetent dodos. But a show has popped up that challenges the status quo–“Phineas and Ferb,” a…
Got this letter which is so perfect, I had to share: Dear Free-Range Kids: Here we go again: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Police-Charge-Woman-For-Leaving-Kids-in-Car-265587491.html This is the top story in Philly! When this story first broke, it was that babies were found in the car, rescued, and rushed to the hospital. Later, information emerged that the SUV had the air conditioning on, water and snacks for the kids, and a 9 year-old with the younger kids. Yet police still had to pry the door off and rush them to the hospital. I only checked the news because we were on vacation in Ocean City,…