Hey Readers — You may recall this post from two weeks ago about playground equipment purchased by a Fairfax, VA, PTA from a reputable manufacturer that was installed at a local grammar school over the summer and then suddenly declared “unsafe.” Since Nov. 30 it had been wrapped up in tape of every sort — yellow crime tape and red metaphorical tape — even though the very same piece of equipment can be found in over 1,000 other playgrounds nationally, and it meets all national and even some international safety standards. Well praise the lord and jump over the monkey…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers! Last night I did a podcast with Kari Svenneby, a native of Norway now living in Toronto and founder of the pro-outdoors site and movement, Active Kids Club. The topic was “cold weather fun.” Those three words happen not to go together for me, but I think they could and should for a lot of kids. Which is why afterwards, when we did a little Facebook chat, one of the comments hit me in the face like a snowball. Concerning dwindling winter recess time, a woman named Debra Scott wrote: Kari has been saying for ages that…
Hi Readers — I’ve got sons, so I have not been privy to what’s happening to Girl Scouts. This letter, in response to the blog post about Iowa Girl Scouts selling four of its rustic camps for being TOO rustic, has me dismayed. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I co-led a troop from 1st grade-6th grade. Girl Scout regulations made it so complicated to go even “cabin camping” that we never got into tents. Full-day training to even stay overnight in a cabin and one of us had to be re-certified for CPR every year even though there was a…
Hi Folks! I love this lesson, brought to us by Free-Range teacher Jennifer Tobin of Whitby, ON. (Where I recently gave a talk.) In my ramping-up efforts to get Free-Range projects into the schools, I welcome any more tales from teachers or principals who have used Free-Range in the classroom…or outside it. Thanks! – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I had wanted to do a Free-Range project with my students for a long time and I was inspired by my 8-year-old son. I am a teacher and I volunteer with Scouts Canada as a Beavers leader. My son recently…
From the Brave New World of Fearing Everything (probably including lawsuits), as sent to us by Judy in Warrington, PA: Dear Free-Range Kids: Today at Wegman’s, I was unable to purchase a King’s Cake (Fat Tuesday tradition) with the lucky baby trinket hidden inside. It seems it is now a choking hazard, even though the tradition is all ABOUT THE TRINKET– everyone KNOWS it’s hidden inside! The whole POINT of the cake is that you want the slice with the baby hidden as you will get luck for the year…but I guess only if you live from…
Hi Readers — Yes, yes, I understand that if no Girl Scouts actually sign up for these rustic camps, there’s little point in preserving them. BUT…I really wish parents would see how wonderful a little nature-absorbing/squirrel-watching/fire-building/A.C.-missing/WiFi-not-connecting/latte-lacking time can be. Here’s the letter the Scout leaders sent out to local parents the other day. — L. Dear Parents: Our founder, Juliette Gordon Low said that ‘the work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.’ It is with that charge that I share the recent recommendation of our council board of directors: to sell all four of…
Hi Readers — Fear is a virus. It spreads from country to country, infecting age-old traditions. The latest evidence of this is the fact that more and more parents in the Netherlands are driving their kids to school. The result? Or, rather, results? 1 – More traffic. 2 – Kids less adept at riding their bikes. 3 – More parents driving their kids because of 1 and 2. It’s a vicious cycle. (And what an apt word!) Here’s the story about it. – L. Is it tilting at you-know-whats to hope that Dutch kids go back to riding their bikes…
Dateline: Montreal — and talk about scary: A middle-aged woman was seen offering a 13-year-old girl a lift. But wait! It gets worse. Possibly the SAME woman also recently offered a ride to a 10-year-old. Can you believe it? How brazen! As if she’s just some nice lady and it’s cold outside! She didn’t drag the kids into the car or insist they get in, but still — isn’t it pretty obvious she’s a pedophile on the loose, or part of the white slave trade? Why ELSE would any adult ever be nice to a child? I wish I could…
Hi Readers! This came in response to the post about a mom who unexpectedly left her 3-year-old alone at a table at Taco Bell for two minutes and got screamed at by the woman at the next table for “endangering” the child. “Please tell me I didn’t do something crazy,” wrote the mom. Most of us reassured her we all have moments of imperfection, and besides — the child was never actually in any danger! But then there was this note: Dear Free-Range Kids: I hear and empathize with the idea of, “Don’t you dare judge me!” We had our…
Hi Readers — Here’s the latest from our friends down under, where the national pastime seems to have switched from throwing shrimp on the barbie to throwing common sense on there and gleefully watching it go up in flames. (Don’t touch! Barbecue glowing red may be HOT.) – L. KIDS will be banned from blowing out candles on communal birthday cakes, under strict new hygiene rules for childcare. But doctors warn the latest National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines go too far in “bubble-wrapping” children…. And daycare staff will now have to wash toys, doorknobs, floors and cushion…