Okay, if you’ve seen this before, maybe you can remain composed through the end. Otherwise — good luck. The Free-Ramge angle? Um…I’m not sure, except that let’s not underestimate kids. Ever. – L. Pass it on!
Author: lskenazy
Readers, I’m sure that plenty of people think that it is a GREAT idea to stage the mock abduction of a child and then get all the local crime fighters involved. But not me. Staging an event like this makes it seem as if stranger abductions are common, or at least on the increase. In fact, they are the rarest of crimes. And, according to Kenneth V. Lanning, a 30-year vet of the FBI, who consults on crimes against children: “I am aware of no research that indicates that children today are any more likely to be abducted by sexual…
Readers — Why are more kids coming down with rickets? Possibly because they aren’t getting enough sunlight. And why is that? Of course a helicoptering society plays its role. But so does atrocious city planning, as you’ll feel in your (possibly softening) bones when you read this fantastic essay by Rachel Cooke in The Guardian: Rickets is on the rise, but let’s not consider it a Victorian throwback, more of a symptom of our airless lifestyle by Rachel Cooke Do you ever feel like you are living in a dystopian novel by JG Ballard? I know that I do. Take…
Folks — All I have to go on, regarding this story, is this one kind of confusing article about an Oregon school district that seems to be trying to comply with state-mandated physical education goals by having its kids, K-5, simply walk or run around a track for their recess (which sounds like it either doubles as gym class or IS their gym class — can you figure it out?). Parents and kids of Jacksonville Elementary School say physical fitness shouldn’t be limited to endless circles on the school’s track in order to comply with the state’s physical education mandates.…
Readers — To use my friend Gever Tulley’s term, we are geniuses when it comes to “dangerizing.” To dangerize is to take a hitherto normal activity or item and re-interpret it as something dangerous. That’s how we get baby knee pads — we dangerize crawling. And Halloween restrictions — we dangerize trick or treating. And now, a school in British Columbia has banned kindergarteners from touching each other at recess: According to The Globe and Mail: Why did the school make the new rule? The [school’s] letter cites playground injuries that have come from games and other forms of hands-on…
Hey Readers — See below. Is this happening in your neck of the woods, too? In New York City, schools have been closed for elections for as long as I can remember, so I don’t feel it is in response to any kind of new fear. But in this school district, perhaps it is. The day is devoted to “professional development,” so it’s not called, “Scared Out of Our Gourds” day. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I just learned my kids’ school district in Lees Summit MO is closed Tuesday. This way they don’t have to worry about strangers voting…
Readers — This is an excerpt from an article in the family issue of Real Simple that’s on the stands now. Read the whole piece here. Help for Overprotective Parents by Jennifer Breheny Wallace A couple of years ago, my then five-year-old son William took a standardized test in which he was asked about everyday objects. The tester noted his unusual responses to some questions. When asked “What do candy and ice cream have in common?” William replied, “They both give you cavities.” For the question “What is chewing gum?” William answered, “A choking hazard.” I was raised by risk-averse…
Readers — Remember, our new motto here is “PERCEPTION IS NOT REALITY.” I coined it out of dismay at the way even made-up threats and freakish fears can prompt real-world changes to life and legislation. Here’s the latest, mind-boggling example. It comes to us from London (Canada) Free Press reporter Kelly Pedro: School Board Says Pupils Can’t Walk Alone To or From Their Portable [Classroom] During the Day by Kelly Pedro Is 60 metres too far for a 12-year-old to walk alone during the day in a school yard? Apparently so. On the heels of a reported incident at one…
Readers — I am really sick of “Good Samaritans” who are actually smug, judgmental crazy cases who imagine terrible things happening to children ANY time the parents are not looking straight at them every single second of every single day. Those folks are WRONG but think they are RIGHT, and sometimes even get the authorities on their side. (Sometimes they even get commenters on their side. Horrrors!) — L Dear Free-Range Kids: I consider myself a happy medium between Free-Range and helicopter. Due to having a son with autism and a son with life-threatening food allergies I cannot always…
Readers — Emergency crews sped to a school in Brooklyn Wednesday after a kid sprayed Axe in room full of sixth graders. EMS transported eight students to the hospital, according to The NY Daily News (where I used to work!). Of course, if Axe fumes were really as dangerous as all that, I should be dead. I live in an apartment with my teenage sons. — L.