Hi Readers — A few weeks back we ran a little piece about an outdoor knife skills class for kids 8-12. Here’s the follow up! – L . Dear Free-Range Kids: You’ll be happy to know that the maiden voyage of the Sharp Kids program was a great success. The morning class was a little sparse with just 5 kids (no one likes to get up early on Sunday), but the afternoon class was filled! The kids were busy for the whole four hour class. They got in to it so deeply that we didn’t even get…
Author: lskenazy
Readers? Have you heard of “Trunk or Treat”? It’s the growing trend of celebrating Halloween in a parking lot. (Woo hoo!) Folks fill up their trunks with candy and drive to a designated spot. Kids go car to car, collecting booty. As Wikipedia explains: Concerned parents see it as safer for their children, while other parents see it as an easier alternative to walking the neighborhood with their kids…. The problem is that Halloween is ABOUT kids walking around the neighborhood, especially when they get old enough to go out with just their friends. Think about it: They dress…
Folks — This story (also reported here) is tragic: A 15-year-old streaked at a high school football game, learned he could end up classified as a “sex offender” for doing it, and then hanged himself. I don’t like to run stories about suicides because we can never know all the reasons behind this saddest of endings. I am putting this one on the blog only because it highlights the absurd overreach of our sex offender laws, which corral the silly along with the evil and, just like zero tolerance policies, see no reason to make a distinction. One reader who…
Readers — Yesterday I asked you to ponder why the government is (or, apparently, MAY be) destroying its brand-new “Just Move!” stamps that show kids doing things like skateboarding, jumping into the water and doing headstands. The real reason is that when they were shown to President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, as well as the “Let’s Move” team, they worried that the skateboarder wasn’t wearing knee pads, the swimmer was doing a cannonball (patently unsafe!), and the headstand girl wasn’t wearing a helmet…which is the weirdest worry of all. Have you EVER seen someone doing a headstand wearing…
Readers — Linn’s Stamp News reports that the government is destroying the stamps below that were supposed to boost Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” movement. You have to guess why. I’ll tell you tomorrow. Or you can check out Michael Graham’s post about them, which is where I found the story. But really. Try to guess why three of the pictures were found objectionable:
Readers — The young man below, Kyle, age 14, had a piece of paper in his notebook that a friend yanked out, labeled “Hit List.” It was not a serious list, he says, and he and his teacher had a joking tug of war over it. Strangely, it was the tug of war rather than the “Hit List” idea that sent Kyle into the Kafka-esque zone where Zero Tolerance meets policy meets police. He was clapped into handcuffs and suspended for for 180 days, not just from his school but from any public school in his state. He is…
Readers — A bunch of you have been sending in this stunning story, about a Long Island, NY, middle school banning anything that could, conceivably, ever hurt a child. According to CBS, “officials at Weber Middle School in Port Washington are worried that students are getting hurt during recess. Thus, they have instituted a ban on footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls, or anything that might hurt someone on school grounds….along with…rough games of tag, or cartwheels unless supervised by a coach.” What’s so absurd about this decision it’s like some kind of modern day fairy tale: Adults, desperate to make sure…
Readers — I can understand this father’s misery: He told the school he’d be picking up his 5 and 8 year old sons late. The school got the message bungled and dismissed the kids, who then walked home the two miles by themselves, without anyone else realizing it. It took three hours to figure this all out, and after that everything was fine. I totally get that the dad was shaken. I’d be, too. But, as usual, I do NOT get why this is a news story, with every anguished “What if?” of the dad’s reported in detail: “If I…
Readers — I recently received this article on backpack overload and how it can hurt a kid’s back and posture. While it gets rather amazingly detailed about how to correctly pack a pack, it does include this great advice: Talk to the school about lightening the load. Be sure the school allows students to stop at their lockers throughout the day. Team up with other parents to encourage changes. I really do think that in addition to the whole parental fear of predators, one reason kids walk so much less to school is that backpacks are now often 10, 15…
Folks — This new “Operation Predator” app is really revolting to me and I am not even sure why I’m so certain it’s a terrible idea. I guess because it is so out of the blue (was anyone clamoring for this?). And because it acts as if predators and child pornographers are common and ubiquitous, when they are neither. By acting that way, it re-enforces the idea that no kids are ever safe, especially outside, as it seems we’re living in such depraved times. That makes parents even MORE reluctant to send their kids outside, thus further eroding an independent,…