Readers — I didn’t know what to suggest to this dad, so please weigh in! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m writing to share what happened to my daughter and me last night and to ask you and/or your readers for suggestions on how to handle this situation if it happens again. I’m a white father to two 7-year-old black girls. Yesterday evening, one of them was walking the dog with me when a woman stopped her car, got out, and walked toward us. “Excuse me,” she said, pointing back and forth to me and my daughter, “but this is…
Author: lskenazy
Readers — This is an incredibly heartening story from England where, about five years ago, Alice Ferguson and her neighbor Amy Rose petitioned to close off a local street for three hours one evening. Guardian reporter Sarah Lewis Hammond quotes Ferguson saying: “It was as if it was something they did every day. The adults started reminiscing about childhood memories of playing out we all said that this should be a normal part of our lives.” The result was not just a day of play, but a whole campaign — Playing Out. Playing Out was too good an idea not…
Readers — As I write on the Reason blog today, Scotland is beginning to assign every child, from birth to 18, a “named person” — that is, a state-appointed guardian. The program will be nationwide by 2016. Each “named person” will be privy to the child’s health, school and other records. If they don’t like what they see, well — that’s what they’re there for. To intervene. As one parent interviewed by NO2NP, the “Say No to the Named Persons” movement, said,”I love my child better than anyone else and so for the Government to tell me that I needed…
Readers: Remember, whenever considering any childhood activity, no matter how innocuous, first think about how TERRIBLE you’d feel if it ended up a tragedy from which your children (if they survive) NEVER RECOVER. Then go ahead and decide if you think they should do it. Here’s a lovely example of that worst-first thinking, below. It’s from a blog called Frontline Moms & Dads. A similar post, “Why My Family Doesn’t Do Sleepovers” is going viral and appears here. I am often asked by parents about how to handle child sleepovers in their family. To even broach this subject can sometimes…
Readers, in truth, I originally thought I had to boil tap water for my kids’ bottles. Then my pediatrician said nope — we live in the First World. Rejoice and let the kids guzzle. But since there is no easier dollar to extract than that from the wallet of a new parent, an Australian company is now peddling Bebi Infant Suitable Water, “quality, ready to drink baby water that can be stored at room temperature.” Water that doesn’t go bad at room temp? Imagine that! Bebi Infant Suitable Water offers you the same protection as boiling your water; but at…
Readers, I think we need some good news for this lovely summer weekend. So: Dear Free-Range Kids: I think the subject title says it all! Last year, I was despairing of a summer stuck to my son’s side because he wouldn’t leave our yard alone. This summer he has gone to 2 different parks within walking distance of our home… alone! He came home after an hour of playing and told me that he felt “so grown up!” The smile of pride on his face was worth the wait! While at the park, there was only a guy mowing…
Readers — I guess what’s good about the Internet is that we hear about all these crazy stories, including this one, wherein a Blanchester, OH, boy, 8, was supposed to get on the bus to church, but played hooky instead and was later found at the devil’s favorite stomping ground, the local Family Dollar. (I, too, cannot stay on the straight and narrow when seduced by $1 sponges, socks and hair doodads.) “Police were called,” says the story, and the boy, Justin Williamson, ostensibly claimed he didn’t know where he lived. Which sounds like an 8-year-old trying to forestall the…
Readers, This comes to us from Nancy McDermott, the brilliant essayist I often turn to when I feel some parenting advice seems weird but I can’t quite figure out why. She also sent along the video you’ll love, below. So here’s an idea: Instead of feeling guilty for not making every moment “teachable” in the school sense, let’s remember there’s a whole lot of interacting that is at least as valuable as another Berenstain Bear book. – L READ TO YOUR CHILD — FROM BIRTH! by Nancy McDermott Imagine, it’s your baby’s first check up. She spends most of her…
From “Let the Kids take Risks When They Play,” by Peter Gray (one of my heroes, author of the basic psych textbook used in colleges across the country, as well as the book Free to Learn) in The Boston Globe: …Over the past 60 years, we’ve seen a huge decline in children’s freedom and opportunity to play on their own. Over this same period, we’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the rates of depression and anxiety disorders among young people — five to eight times what they were in the 1950s, based on standard clinical questionnaires given to…
As a mom who did babyproof to a certain extent (no toilet locks!), I certainly don’t blame folks who do. But I certainly don’t blame folks who don’t, either. And since there are about a million levels of proofing, my advice is simple: Don’t judge! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’d love to get your input on this!I recently mentioned to an acquaintance who also has young children that my house isn’t baby-proofed. At all. And that I actually don’t really believe in it. She looked at me like I was a monster!I can remember when I made the…