Hi folks! Our Sunday reading comes to us from far away — Hyderabad, India. It’s by Stephanie Smith Diamond who writes, runs, and studies for her master’s degree in political science there. She blogs at Where in the World Am I? — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I recently came across your blog and read your book. I’d heard of your son riding the subway alone a couple years ago and didn’t know what the big deal was. I felt like mainstream media didn’t give the audience the entire story. If your son was raised in the city and was used…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks! This comes to us from Heather Shumaker, author of It’s OK Not to Share — And Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids (Tarcher/ Penguin, 2012), which was named one of the Best Parenting Books of 2012 by Parents magazine. She’s a speaker, blogger and advocate for free play and no homework for young children who lives in northern Michigan with her family. She blogs at www.heathershumaker.com. Take it away, Heather! – L Ban Chairs — Not Tag, by Heather Shumaker Why roughhousing prepares kids better for life and school than a life of…
Readers — This came in response to the post about a mom who let her 7-year-old sit out on their front stoop for a short time and the husband declared this “bad parenting!” Sometimes our society expects so little from kids in terms of competence, helpfulness and general responsibility, it’s nice to zoom out a little and remember not everyone “loves” their kids so much they never ask those kids for real help. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Oh, and just for another bit of perspective, my husband (who did NOT grow up in the USA) at 7 years old…
Hi Readers! Have you noticed that study abroad programs are becoming very common at college? (Is this as obvious as saying, “Have you noticed kids spend a lot of time on Facebook?” If so, sorry. It’s just a jumping off point.) Anyway, while traveling strikes me as great — we can all use some perspective! — I’m nonetheless a little skeptical about the programs. They seem both more expensive and less immersive than simply taking a semester or two off and heading over to the country of one’s interest. With that thought nagging at my mind, I stumbled upon this…
Hi Readers — I love and agree with the post below so much. It comes to us from the blog Life as an Adverb by the gal whose last name IS one: Bonnie Overly. — L. KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GOAL (AND TAKE THEM OFF YOUR KIDS ONCE IN A WHILE) by Bonnie Overly Sometimes I feel like I must be from an alternate universe. I was reminded of this when a recent discussion at church turned to how we, as women, focus so much time and energy on our children that we never do anything for ourselves.…
Readers — Below is an excerpt from a 2011 interview with University of Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley (just sent to me), whom I now consider a genius. He is so clear and smart about why, despite Canada’s homicide rate hitting a 44-year low, most people feel LESS safe, a discrepancy that daily constantly confounds me. The interviewer is Jenny Hall: Why does it feel like it’s less safe than ever out there? This is one of the interesting things that we as criminologists are often asked to explain. We just recently did a survey in Toronto. We asked “do…
Readers: This article is one of the best things I’ve ever read about our increasingly cruel, counter-productive sex offender laws — laws in place because of excess fear and excess pandering when it comes to our kids. It appears in City Pages, a Twin Cities alternative newsweekly, and focuses on Patty Wetterling, whose 11-year-old son Jacob was abducted by a stranger in a small Minnesota town in 1989 and never found. Wetterling went on to lobby successfully for the first national sex offender legislation, but two decades of learning the facts about child safety and sexual abuse has changed her…
Readers — We all want some sensible safety precautions taken in schools, but as far as I can tell they were all in place about 50 years ago and don’t really need to get more persnickety. But just as something there is that loves a wall, something there is that loves another layer of excess precaution, bureaucracy and catastrophizing Hence, this note from a kindergarten teacher in Wisconsin: Dear Free-Range Kids: This school year, we had lots of warnings from our administration and our custodial staff that we needed to be in compliance with this: We are not allowed to…
Hey Readers — Just a little note about how kids surprise us all the time, when we let them. – L. . Dear Lenore: Just heard you on the CBC (Canada’s NPR). Here’s my anecdote of awareness: . Concerned for my Grade 6 (age 11) daughter’s safety, I insisted on her holding my hand to cross any street. At the same time, I arranged for her to participate in a class trip to Japan, where 10 girls from her school would spend two weeks. Each pair of girls was billeted with two families for 5-day periods. When she returned, the…
Readers — I’m not going to make this a long post, because the craziness is pretty obvious and I think there will be an uproar against it. Suffice to say some Maryland schools have outlawed (at least for the moment) hugs, homemade cupcakes and parent volunteers pushing any child other than their own on the swings. All in the name of…well, guess. Fear addles the mind and it REALLY addles school administrations. They respond with something like superstition, the way you wheedle with God when you’re afraid: “If we outlaw everything decent and fun, will you please keep our kids…