Hi Folks! Here’s my piece in today’s Wall Street Journal. It’s not straight-on Free-Range, just a little slice of life. I hope this link works! (If not, maybe this one?) Anyway, the piece begins: A Hearty Breakfast of Google and YouTube by Lenore Skenazy This is a tale of two breakfasts. Breakfast when I was 15, staring at the back of a cereal box: “Hey kids! Help the Cap’n find his way home!” Breakfast this morning with my son, 15: “Hey mom! Let me show you this commercial I saw during the game!” He hops online, searches YouTube for a…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers — I was only vaguely aware of the shelf elf, so I’m grateful to reader Frankie Wood, who just sent this in: Dear Free-Range Kids: I know, Christmas is past now, but the topic of the Elf on a Shelf came up in a recent conversation and since I don’t have my own blog in which to rant, I thought it be an interesting (if belated) topic for you. Have you heard of this thing? It’s a little elf doll that comes with a book explaining all about how hateful Santa is that if you aren’t…
Readers — One of you sent me this fascinating piece on hitchhiking that ran in the New York Times last year. The writer, Ginger Strand, author of Killer On the Road, points out that hitchhiking had been a normal mode of transportation, never considered particularly dangerous, until the late ’50s when: The F.B.I. began warning American motorists that hitchhikers might be criminals. A typical F.B.I. poster showed a well-dressed yet menacing hitchhiker under the title “Death in Disguise?” In the ’60s, the focus began to shift, emphasizing dangers to the hitchhiker instead of the driver. Although many states had some…
Readers — Over and over I keep realizing how grateful kids are when we lean OUT of their lives a little and let them show us how competent they really are. I love this letter! – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I stumbled on your site when a backpacking guide friend asked me what approach she should use in talking to Girl Scouts and their moms about camping and other “risky” outdoor activities. I’ve been witnessing the changes in outdoor programs since I joined the Brownies in 1955! My parents gave me my first jackknife when I was 8.…
Readers — Show us your chops! Here’s a song I wrote last night, inspired by this AP story by Nedra Pickler about some schools, including those in Glen Ridge, NJ, that “want to end their traditional role as polling places because of security concerns since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.” (As one commenter once wrote about this issue, “Guess all of those Election Day Massacres finally took a toll.” ) Your job? SING THE SONG AND SEND US A LINK in the comments below! Or just send me the video via email: heylenore3@gmail.com . Do…
Readers — This is a two-part post. First comes a letter from Lisa, a mom in Arizona who had her kids (2 and 4) wait in the car while she ran an errand and is now facing charges of neglect. The temperature that morning was mild, not sweltering. The second part is a letter to Lisa from The National Association of Parents’ founder, David DeLugas. He has pledged to use new membership dues ($19 for a year) and donations toward hiring Lisa a lawyer. I’m a member! Read on: Dear Free-Range Kids: It was approx 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct.…
Readers — I appreciate this note and clip, from Scott FitzGerald, who describes himself as “just a ‘regular’ dad in suburbia, trying to raise two great kids to be smart, independent accountable, and happy.” (He modestly doesn’t mention having written The Great Gatsby!) – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I thought you might find this editorial refreshing. Arapahoe High is only about a mile from my house and although our young children would attend a different school (we’re in a different county) these types of events do cause you to take pause since them seem so random and violent. I…
Readers — Wrap your head in a towel before you read this, so when you bang your head against the wall it won’t hurt as much: State Journal birth notices to end because of hospitals’ new policy by David Wahlberg The [Wisconsin] State Journal will stop publishing birth announcements later this week because Madison’s two birthing hospitals will no longer provide the information to the newspaper. The end of the traditional keepsake for parents and notice to the community stems from a growing concern about infant abductions, hospital officials say. Birth listings “set people up as targets for somebody who…
Readers — What a perfect way to start 2014, with a great story of two boys walking to the store and the mom who fought for that right. Yes, that RIGHT. It is OUR RIGHT to believe in our kids. And it is our kids’ right to grow up FREE from the limits imposed by delusions of danger.This story was sent in by Ben Rossiter, head of Victoria Walks, an Australian non-profit dedicated to getting people back to doing just what these boys did: Walking around their neighborhoods. How radical. – L. Women call police after spotting young boys walking…
Readers — I was going to go out on a high — the happy post below this one, about kids enjoying a New Year’s party together while their parents did the same at another house — when one of you sent in this: “Mom Left Young Kids Alone to Go Clubbing: Police” Young? Her oldest kid was 13 — babysitter age. WHY IS THIS A CRIME??? If this is all there really is to the story, we are treating the mom like a criminal and the teen like a baby, all because we think no one under 18 is ever…