Hi Readers — My gosh, a stranger entered a San Francisco Bay-area pre-school for less than two minutes and the school tells parents that just “luckily” he did not leave with a screaming toddler under his arm. Because usually that’s what usually happens? That’s why I LOVE the back and forth, below: The school reacted with overwhelming worry, then a parent named Mark Lakata took the time to write back and put things in perspective. Letting any institution sow constant suspicion makes the world a more rotten, paranoid place. Kudos to Mark for fighting back. — L P.S.…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks! Over in England, parents at one school cannot attend their kids’ “sports day” unless they get (and pass!) a criminal background check. According to this dderdftrik piece in The Telegraph, the Isambard Community School is sorry, but, well, pedophiles could sneak from the fields into the school and start their pouncing. And so, with regret, yada, yada, yada. As one school official put it:. “At Isambard we take safeguarding very seriously…” So seriously, apparently, that the officials there have lost their minds. Really — has their nightmare scenario ever happened? Some predator pretends to be a parent and…
Hi Readers! I hope you will run and hide any copies you might have of “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a poem that has apparently been corrupting young minds — and lungs — sinc3 1822. You’ll recall that in the poem, St. Nick is not without his vices: “The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.” That’s right — Santa’s a smoker. Thank goodness a new version is coming out this year that will stem the tide of children drawn, zombie like, to that ever-more-popular hobby, pipe-smoking,…
Hi Readers — Maybe you remember this mom from a few years back. I sure do. And here’s what she and her family are up to now. — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: A few years ago you featured a story I shared of leaving my 3 month old in the arms of two perfect strangers (or potential child predators as some may call them!) at a Starbucks so I could use the restroom. Those two people were a mother and grandmother and it was quite a treat for them to be able to cuddle with a little baby for…
Hi Readers: How I love the Harry Potter books and their genius author, J.K. Rowling. I mean LOVE. So I hope this was just a silly little offhand remark Ms. Rowling made to a New Yorker reporter: “If Harry really had gone through everything he went through,” she says, “he probably wouldn’t be mentally healthy enough to survive anywhere, would he?” Um…clearly Ms. Rowling knows better than me (or anyone) what Harry is able to survive. But since he seemed to be so strong and resilient as a youth, I would hope he would continue to survive and thrive as…
Hi Folks! Here’s a hint that the tide is turning! In Singapore, excess tutoring, helicoptering and micro-managing has long been the name of the game, says this article in The Economist: Imagine, then, the surprise when the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, launched an attack on tiger mothers in a speech in late August to mark Singapore’s national day. Most of his remarks celebrated Singapore’s success, as usual. But then he berated parents for coaching their three- or four-year-old children to give them that extra edge over the five-year-old competition. And he added: “Please let your children have their childhood…Instead…
Hi Folks! Here’s a post by Sharon Kennedy Wynne, a reporter/editor at the Tampa Bay Times (formerly The St. Petersburg Ties) about a disturbing trend: Requiring background checks for school volunteers. It’s a trend we should fight for three reasons: 1 – The assumption behind it is that any adult interacting with any child in any capacity could easily be a predator. Talk about a PERVERSE view of the homeroom mom! 2 – The checks don’t actually provide the kind of safety they’re supposed to guarantee. 3 – The checks cost money. Whether that cash comes from a…
Heads up! You will LOVE this Pearls Before Swine comic featuring Humpty Dumpty (and his lawyers) today! This is not just some wacky notion of where our world is going. Recall that in 2009, we noted that a British TV program was actually assuring children that, “All the kings horses and all the kings men MADE HUMPTY HAPPY AGAIN!” Yes, because it’s too much to expect kids to recover from the emotional blow of hearing that sometimes an egg actually cracks open. The truth? Our kids can’t handle the truth! And if that’s not enough, tomorrow I will post about…
Hi Readers — All I can say about this is that I can’t stand the way insurance issues insinuate themselves into the way we act and plan as parents, neighbors, humans. It’s fear-based, it’s trust-killing and it makes us think of everyday life as one giant lawsuit about to crush us to smithereens. — L Dear Free-Range Kids: Have you heard of something like this? I belong to a mom’s group, which I love. I don’t think I would have been able to be a stay-at-home-mom without all the amazing friends I’ve made from this group. We’ve gone on camping…
Hi Folks! Here’s a post from the blog highlyirritable which I’m realizing could describe me, too, whenever I am contemplating our fear-crazed culture. (Slightly off topic, but while I was on the site, I found THIS post, which has a picture of the greatest word problem ever. Guaranteed laugh.) – L . A Ballsy Mom . I’m really not one to brag, but it appears that I’m considered a bit of a hero around these parts. A few weeks ago I wascalled “brave,” and “ballsy,” and I’m choosing to take those as compliments, despite the manner in which they…