Rachel Fracassa describes herself as a” long-time reader and Free-Range mom of four,” whose family is always “off creating new adventures.” Their latest project is The NightLight, which rates/recommends products for babies and parents. WHAT FRIGHTENS MY FAMILY by Rachel Fracassa Six filthy bare feet run along the gravel drive and hop over a leaf-littered creek to get to the pasture where their father is buried. It’s just a field, like any other along 7 highway, but under a little Swamp Oak is a rock – a rock with my daughter’s scrawl “DADDY.” And beneath that, a grave. We don’t…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks — The other day I was visiting friends in Rye, NY, where darned if kids weren’t playing outside,unsupervised, even making up their own games. Our host challenged me to find out: Why? Why are some neighborhoods still Free-Range, while others aren’t? I decided to ask that question of the folks in the RV’ing world, a Free-Range culture if ever there was one, and here’s part of my the piece I wrote up for the Huffington Post: Why Do Helicopter Parents Loosen Up at Campgrounds? Most of us remember playing outside till the streetlights came on, but our kids…
The new Legoland that opened in Somerville, outside of Boston, requires all visitors to come fully equipped with a child, reports Doug Saffir at boston.com. He quotes the tickets page which reads: Please be reminded LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston is a children’s attraction. Adults must be accompanied by a child in order to enter the attraction. Please book into one of our exclusive Adult Nights, starting this Summer, if you wish to experience the attraction. Have we really come to the point where we see ANY interaction between young and old as the perfect petri dish for perversion? It certainly…
Readers — This is a fascinating piece for us to chew on this weekend by Steven Horwitz, the Charles A. Dana Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. Chew on! – L The Risks of Mental Shortcuts about Risks by Steven Horwitz One of the great things that the Free-Range Kids movement has done is to remind parents that their perceptions of what is dangerous to their kids are often at odds with the statistical facts. The things that we often think are dangerous, like Halloween candy and stranger abduction, are…
Readers — Share some ideas or I will take your toy and hit you over the head with it: Dear Free-Range Kids: I am a Free-Range mom all the way. My problem is that everything has become so skewed in regards to childcare that I don’t even know what’s reasonable. My son is still pretty little (he turns 3 this weekend) but I am trying to implement Free-Range principles even now. He has a lot of unstructured playtime where he is expected to entertain himself, I’ve recently started letting him play alone in our privacy-fenced yard where I can keep…
Readers — Willow Smith, the 13-year-old daughter of Will and Jada Smith, posted a photo of her on a bed with 20-year-old Moises Arias next to her. It is (can I be honest here?) a provocative picture. But: Why is that the government’s concern? An unnamed source told RadarOnline that the Los Angeles Department of Children & Family Services has opened a file on the family. “This won’t be just one or two visits with the family, and it will likely be an open investigation for at least a month, out of an abundance of caution.” Ah, that haunting phrase…
Readers — Of course there are a ton of child-GPSing devices out there now, to the point where letting a child simply step outside without one may soon become a federal offense. This ad just struck me as rock bottom. It’s like a film strip for a first grader who happens to be a mom. Anyway, I don’t know what we’ll do with future felons on house arrest. Giving them an ankle bracelet won’t seem like punishment anymore. It’ll just seem nostalgic! — L \
Readers — My guess is what we have here is a terrible insurance regulation or some such. This is from Ontario, Canada: Dear Free Range Kids: My kids, grade 1 and 4, are among the few at our suburban school who actually walk to school. We have several playgrounds in our neighbourhood, and with a “buddy system” in place (my choice — not mandated), they are sometimes allowed to go to these parks unattended. Our public elementary schoolyard is one of these places. Trouble is, the school has recently, by way of formal email to all parents, decried that no…
UPDATE: Readers, this is from the mom who wrote the post, who, like me, as been very touched by your emotional support as well as your offers of financial support: “To all the kind people who have made such supportive comments, thank you very much. We are very touched by the offers that have been made of financial contributions, and though we’re not accustomed to asking for help, all of this is causing both families financial hardship, so we are looking into setting something up to accommodate that, and will let you know. Unfortunately, we are advised for now to…
Indoor playgrounds run by private companies are rife with rules, some sane, and some simply sops to over-reaching insurance policies. While I don’t recommend creating havoc or embarrassing any staff, a little civil disobedience in the name of sanity, fun and childhood seems good. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I wanted to share this experience, because it was eye-opening for me. I agreed to participate in a Field Trip today with my 2 and 1/2 year old’s Day Care. We loaded about 45 toddlers into a bus and headed off to one of these indoor play-centres that are all…