The other day I had lunch with Nancy Nord, a former commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Joining us was one of my personal heroes, Philip Howard. Here’s what Nancy wrote on her blog, Conversations with Consumers, a forum that doggedly points out the difference (and distance) between safety and paranoia. As a gal who has seen the Commission inside and out, she BELIEVES, as I think we all do, in keeping consumers safe. She does NOT believe in regulating nearly non-existent dangers. – L PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK by Nancy Nord Recently I was up in New…
Author: lskenazy
Dear Readers — When you live in a society spasming with fear, it is hard not to flinch. That’s why we are here on this blog together. To support each other when the world mistakes our confidence and rationality for neglect and abuse. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I just finished reading Free Range Kids, over the course of 1.5 days. I never send fan mail, but I couldn’t keep my gratitude and relief to myself. I am the mother of a 22-month-old boy, and I have been parenting him in a Free-Range style without really having a name for…
Readers: Remember the saying, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel?” Now it’s predators. To wit — Dear Free-Range Kids: I hope you don’t mind me sending you a link to a report on NPR this morning about a concerted effort to overthrow a law that affects transgender people. The part that bothered me I underlined and bolded below: At Azusa High School in Southern California, Pat Cordova-Goff is the student body president, a varsity cheerleader, homecoming princess and a straight-A senior. But she isn’t always comfortable at school. She is Azusa High’s only openly transgender student, and when…
Readers — This story from Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Collins is heartwarming, and enraging. Seems a mom there, Anne Tabat, wanted to thank her kids’ school bus driver. So she baked some cookies and brought them to the bus stop — one for the driver and one for each of the kids on the bus, too. Her idea was to reach out. Connect. She did this every Friday for 15 years…until last week. That’s when some anonymous person officially alerted the school district to this unofficially sanctioned practice. We don’t know why the caller called, and it doesn’t really matter.…
Readers — The Onion gets it. They always do: EVERY PARENT’S WORST NIGHTMARE IS LOSING A CHILD TO GORCHUL, THE DARK SORCERER OF TIME As a parent, worrying is second nature. You’re constantly afraid that something could go wrong. Your child could get sick, or get in an accident, or even just not fit in at school. Sure, there’s joy and pride and fulfillment, but there’s also an unavoidable stream of dread. And all of these worries of course pale in comparison to every parent’s worst nightmare: losing your child to Gorchul, the Dark Sorcerer of Time. It’s a…
Readers, this is just a fascinating Texas Monthly story about a lockdown drill that everyone but the principal and a few administrators thought was REAL. At the heart of it lies the question the reporter asks (see below). And also: How does a terrifying drill make the staff better prepared than a calm one? And the uber question: What kind of administrators think a shooting is so likely, it is worth putting everyone in their school through a horrifying experience? That’s the kind of thinking that gets us all sorts of drastic laws: “I don’t care if the odds are…
Readers — I found this note so interesting: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m a big believer in your philosophy, which I do my best to apply in my work as a nanny. I check in just about every day, and am always thrilled to find fresh reassurance that I’m not the only person who worries the world has gone insane. That being said, I’ve never contributed anything before, but today this headline caught my eye on Consumerist. I (perhaps ghoulishly) expected something a little more dramatic, but after reading the story I found myself wondering… what am I missing? I…
Readers — One of the things I try to explain in my talks, book and blog is that some present-day parenting practices (and laws) that just seem “wise” now will be considered downright detrimental in the future, or are considered weird NOW in other places. For instance: Dear Free-Range Kids: I can’t thank you enough! When I thought everyone around me is so fearfully overprotecting their kids, I was so relieved to find your homepage. My story in a nutshell: We moved 4 years ago from Switzerland to Canada. Both my kids, now 4 and 5, were born in Switzerland…
Readers — As you know, the government has been spying on us all, from plebes to prime ministers. But National Security Agency agents look like pikers compared with plain old American parents, who are being encouraged to treat their kids as enemy agents whose every move must be observed, tracked, tapped or taped. It’s all to “Keep our kids safe!”, of course, the greatest slogan since — well, there is no greater slogan once you’re a parent. (Before you’re a parent, it’s, “This will get you a date!”) Here’s an ad for just one of the many new surveillance products…
Readers — When kids are going through their scared-of-the-dark phase, they see the chair and think it’s a monster. And when adults are going through their “Everyone is out to get our children” phase — (From The Daily Mirror.) Children were evacuated from a swimming pool amid fears of a pervert in the changing rooms – only to discover the alarm was caused by a false leg. Staff spotted a foot sticking out from under a cubicle as primary school pupils got changed after a swimming lesson. … But when [teachers] opened the changing room door they saw the suspected…