Hi Readers — While this letter is not about children, it reminds us to resist “worst-first” thinking: automatically thinking up the worst possible case scenario FIRST (usually involving crime and depravity), and assuming it’s the most likely story. Life is, thank goodness, usually duller than that. That being said, I am still very sorry to hear about the 19-year-old. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I know this isn’t exactly a “Free-Range” issue but I think it’s related and relevant in the “stranger-danger” paranoid world we live in, and thought you’d be interested. This week there has been a fire-storm going…
Author: lskenazy
Sanity on the part of the same suburban Maryland school administrators who suspended a 6-year-old for what they labeled a threat “to shoot a friend” — which most of the rest of the world saw as a 6-year-old playing? Yes indeed, and hallelujah! (Hardest word to spell!) Here are the details. Very sorry the family had to retain a lawyer to get the school to reconsider. Nonetheless, rejoice in a victory for rationality, decency, and all children with fingers! – L. When fingers are outlawed, only outlaws will have fingers. (That means they may become the only bloggers!)
Readers — When my son was in fifth grade and annoying the teacher one way or another, his punishment was NO RECESS. Do you think that made him more eager to pay attention, stop squirming and buckle down to work for the rest of the day? That’s why I’m thrilled that no less an institution than the American Academy of Pediatrics has decided to rally for recess. According to this piece by Bonnie Rochman in Time Magazine: Children need to have downtime between complex cognitive challenges,” says Dr. Robert Murray, a pediatrician and professor of human nutrition at Ohio State…
Hi Readers — Please note that this guest post is not ANTI yoga for kids. Nothin’ wrong with bending and stretching, no matter what age. What IS wrong, says Hara Estroff Marano, editor at large at Psychology Today and author of the inspiring, insightful and all together fabulous book A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting, is when yoga becomes a substitute for good old-fashioned free play. When I was asked to be on Fox News today for a feature on kiddie yoga, I deferred to Hara — a friend — because I figured she’d have a…
First fun of the day: Over at Overlawyered.com, iterdikadh there’s a doormat you will LOVE. Wish I had written these warnings, including, “Do not taunt mat.” Check it out here! – L. Woman teaches bad doormat a lesson
A boy in suburban Washington, D.C., was suspended for the absolutely terrifying crime of making his hand into the shape of a gun — surely something no decent, law-abiding 6-year-old has ever even contemplated before. Clearly the boy had murder on his mind…and in his fiendish fingers. Kudos to the thoughtful administrators at Roscoe Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD, for stopping this pint-size madman before he had his way. The boy is forbidden to show up at school today, the first day after vacation. As a school system administrator told News4: “Generally, in an incident involving the behavior…
Hi Readers! Here’s one I could have — and also could NOT have — predicted: Parents of one of the children who was NOT SHOT DEAD at Sandy Hook obtained a lawyer and were hoping to sue the state for $100 million . According to this Reuters story: The unidentified client, referred to as Jill Doe, heard “cursing, screaming, and shooting” over the school intercom when the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, opened fire, according to the claim filed by New Haven-based attorney Irv Pinsky. “As a consequence, the … child has sustained emotional and psychological trauma and injury, the nature…
Hi Readers! Over at the Huffington Post today you can read about a bunch of 2012 Free-Range Kids FAILS, including the stories of parents in two different states arrested for letting their kids play outside unsupervised. (Only one did jail time.) Thanks to Lisa Belkin for requesting the round up! Meantime, a few weeks back I asked you for best and worst Free-Range moments of 2012. Here are a few — and some more are recounted in the HuffPo post. Let’s toast to a 2013 free of unnecessary fears and restrictions for our kids, and a whole lot of joy.…
Just how dangerous is the library when it comes to kids? Apparently too dangerous to have any of them under the age of 12 anywhere on the premises unsupervised — even if their parents are just a room away. Or so goes the reasoning at the Boulder, CO, public library, which sent this letter, in response to a parent’s dismay at the new rule. The boldface is mine. – L. Dear Mr. H: I am sending this reply to your communication of December 14, 2012, on behalf of the Boulder Public Library Commission. The Boulder Public Library Commission received your…
Hi Readers — I don’t pretend that these parents are anything other than off-the-charts weird. But they do give a glimpse at the furthest reaches of helicopter-dom, in that they sent their daughter off to college but continued to drop in on her unannounced — despite the 600 miles that should have separated them — even as they monitored her every phone call and email, electronically. It’s as if they were on the trail of a crime, and in a way, they were. She’s guilty of growing up! In this case, the parents sought to have their seemingly normal, talented daughter…