Hi Folks! Here you go. Just the tip of the media iceberg. — L (who will some day learn how to embed videos that don’t come from YouTube)
Author: lskenazy
Hey Folks — A national TV show taping here in NYC needs Free-Range Parents to come on tomorrow morning and talk about why Free-Ranging is not nuts/crazy/super-dangerous/the worst idea ever, etc. etc. If you are around and want to do this (it’s over by 10 a.m., in midtown)– fantastic. Please drop an email to: Christie Bear christiembear@gmail.com . Thanks! – L
Hi Folks! My “I Won’t Supervise Your Kids” class begins today (Weds., Sept. 12) at 3:45 in Central Park. We’ll meet at 85th and Fifth Avenue. Any parents present will sign a waiver, “I don’t expect anyone — much less Lenore — to supervise my kids.” And then they leave, and so do I, and the fun begins. Make up a game! Learn something new. Make new friends. You know — do the kind of stuff parents got to do when THEY were kids, before everyone got so scared for kids every time they leave the house! (A misplaced fear…
Hi Readers! A fellow Free-Ranger seeks your counsel! – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: I have a question that maybe you can pose to your readers. What age can kids begin to walk to and from school alone, and whose decision should it be? Here’s the background. We live in a very safe, idyllic suburb. Our town (Temecula) was recently named the “2nd safest city in America” by a Business Insider survey that rated FBI crime stats. Most of the kids who go to our local elementary schools live right in the neighborhood where the schools are located, and…
Folks — The idea that a 10-year-old is not allowed to read at the library without a guardian is nauseating to me, and not just because I spent my formative years at the Wilmette Public Library (reading the Harvard Lampoon). I can’t imagine my mom having to spend her whole weekend at the library just because she happened to have a reader for a child. Alternatively, I can’t imagine NOT spending my afternoons at the library because my mom had other things to do besides bodyguarding me in the reference room. And yet, that “No One Alone Under Age 10″…
Hi Folks! After years of trying to figure out how to get kids back outside, playing together — an effort that led to “Take Our Children to the Park …And Leave Them There Day,” not to mention many a blog post extolling the benefits of free-play — I’ve finally decided that maybe the answer is the one that parents look for instinctively: A bona fide class. Hence, “I Won’t Supervise Your Kids,” a new, 8-week, $350 after-school “class” starting this Wednesday, Sept. 12, in New York City’s Central Park. (Details here.) I’m charging for the class to make me a…
Hi Folks — This story comes to us from Australia, where the federal government is telling child protective workers to consider — and classify — kids who “often” hurt themselves as at a “high risk of neglect.” “Accident-prone children might be the victims of poor parental supervision,” is how AdelaideNow sums the reasoning up. Thus, anyone treating (or seeing?) bruised or clumsy kids is told to assess the role that parental supervision — or lack thereof — played, even in minor accidents. The theory behind this isn’t bad. It’s true that severely neglected children, especially young ones, may be…
Hi Folks! Well, it only took me about two years longer than I’d hoped (okay…three), but here at last is the new Free-Range Kids site. Allow me to point out some wonderful features (besides the ads, which are a first for me! Don’t hate on them — making a living is good!) Our tour begins at the top of the page where you’ll find, among other things, an updated tab for “My TV Show,” including a 2-minute clip. (Still seeking a gutsy U.S. station to take the series!) There’s also a spanking new “Speaking Engagements” page. And the “Press” tab…
Hi Folks! Here’s a school memo one of you sent in from the Brave New World that thinks somehow every time any adult encounters a child — even in a classroom filled with other adults and a gaggle of kids — the kids are in grave danger: Wiggle aidbftnika those digits If you attended volunteer training last spring in order to be able to help out at school (in the classroom, on field trips, at parties, etc.), there’s one more step you need to take. The school board recently added a fingerprinting requirement for all volunteers to accompany the existing…
Hi Folks! I have a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal:”When Separation Anxiety Goes Overboard.” It’s about the way the advice-o-sphere manages to turn the first day of school into a super-dramatic, super-traumatic event that requires the kind of preparation once associated with storming the beaches: “Practice how you will say goodbye,” urges one of the zillion or so websites featuring first-day-of-school tips. “Goodbye!” Hmm. That just doesn’t seem very difficult to me. Maybe I’m heartless. In fact, I know I’m heartless, because I never bought a “Nesting Heart.” That’s a toy made by a company called Kimochis that is…