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…
Author: lskenazy
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…
Hi Readers — This made my day! Dear Free-Range Kids: Thought I would share a conversation I overheard today at my daughter’s school. I went to pick up my 6 year old from her after school program and arrived just in time to hear her speaking to a friend and the friend’s mother. I didn’t hear the beginning of the chat, but did hear her say (with emphasis!): “No, no, you’re SUPPOSED to TALK to strangers, you just don’t GO anywhere with them! Like, I mean, until today I never met YOU (referring to the friend’s mother),…
Hi Readers! It’s that festive, super-suspicious time of the year, as evidenced by this invite, from the Riverside Intermediate School in Fishers, Indiana. You know — 2011′s Safest City in America. I guess it’s filled with the kind of upstanding citizens who need to be vetted by the state police before helping with kids’ class parties. — L Hello Parents, I hope everyone is doing well. You all signed up to help out in some way with our classroom at Meet the Teacher night. I realize that everyone’s schedule is busy this time of year, but we will…
Readers — I got this letter yesterday in my email. Why does it make me SO MAD? “Children are Unique, Beautiful and Fragile” begins its CRAVEN plea. I’m losing it! I really feel this is a HORRIBLE thing to say or even IMPLY. I probably sound like I am in FAVOR of child maiming. I’m not! I just HATE this plea to emotion and terror when it comes to KIDS. It is INFECTIOUS! Here’s the charity’s WHOLE LETTER — it’s just four sentences of SKIN CRAWLING smarm! (And I’m sorry I keep updating this post — I just keep getting…
Readers — There is something poignant, sweet, weird and wonderful about what you’re about to read. Remember it when friends say they can’t possibly go Free-Range because it’s too scary. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Back in ’09 I read your book, and allowed my boys to walk to get ice-cream for the first time. About a 5-7 min. walk from our house. Rob was 12, and Isaac would be 11 in a few months. I had written you a few times back then. I had experienced a stranger abduction when my pastor’s daughter was abducted and murdered in…
UPDATE: *********Readers, one of you asked us to start a list of parks that still have merry-go-rounds. Does yours? If so, please tell us where it is!********* Readers, did you grow up with a merry-go-round at the park? And now? Interestingly, I couldn’t find any laws that state merry-go-rounds must go, only reams of regulations as to how high they can be, how fast they can spin, etc. So maybe their near-extinction is simply due to a combination of excess rules, along with the specter of lawsuits. From one law firm’s website: If your child was severely injured from…
Readers: A few weeks ago I spoke at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. It’s an all-girl school, housed in re-purposed mansion and headed by the dynamic Wanda Holland Greene. She and I were so on the same page after my talk (and I overheard her say she’d laughed so hard her “stomach hurt”) that we decided to continue the conversation with any parents who cared to join us, in her office. There, we talked about our own childhoods, what we loved doing as kids, and how we could give those experiences BACK to our kids. And then Wanda wrote…
Readers — Here is an actual letter from a school superintendent, sent in by a reader after she and her husband had asked why their kindergartener was getting only getting one 20-minute recess per day. Writes the mom: I was told it was because of curriculum at first. That seemed odd because we went from 1/2 to full day in this district recently. Anyway, the 2nd time I asked it was because not every one brings a jacket. My response was that I would go to Salvation Army and pick up extra jackets. And then we got this letter: The…