Hey Readers! Here’s a lovely little bite of sanity, deceny and normal-ness (before I bring you today’s run-in-with-the-cops story that’s driving me to despair). Over at Lisa Belkin’s blog on The Huffington Post, she reports that a 5-year-old with autism was let off at the wrong stop, thanks to a little mix-up. Rather than this making front page news — remember this story? “Parents Worst Nightmare!” — it was resolved the usual way: With kindness and concern. Two teens found the boy, brought him to an adult who got in touch with his mom, who came and got him. As…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks! I liked this letter because it reminds us that Free-Range Kids is not dogmatic and not silly. We don’t say you MUST trust your child in every situation or you are a lily-livered ninny. We don’t reject thinking things over, or even erring on the side of caution. All we DO reject is knee-jerk “worst-first thinking” — immediately assuming the worst in all situations. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: Parenting Free-Range children does not mean throwing all caution to the wind. While reading through some people’s stories and comments I have commonly seen the inner struggle…
Readers zreriaayka — This is such a fantastic example of the way our society is going: Better not to experience ANYTHING than to be exposed to a single ounce of RISK. It comes to us from Julie Saxon, a university lecturer turned stay-at-mom of two in San Jose, CA. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Just wanted to share this story that happened yesterday. My family has decided it’s time to adopt a pet, and we’d like a cat or kitten. My husband and I both grew up with cats in the household and we both had indoor/outdoor cats.…
Hi Readers! Let’s call this a “Catch 12”: you are old enough to do something independent, but not allowed to do it independently: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’ve got my 11 & 12 year old sons registered to take a babysitting class through our local children’s medical center. The reminder email stated: Accompany your child into the building and to the classroom. Please allow 5 minutes to park, find the room, and to check your child in. Please send a water bottle, lunch and snack with your child. There is no cafeteria available. (Because clearly, neither I nor my…
Well, readers, from what I can tell from the news reports I’ve just read and watched in utter disbelief, a 29-year-old mom in Richmond, Va., was found guilty of letting her 4-year-old daughter draw with chalk on some park rocks. For this the mom received 50 hours of community service to be spent weeding the area around 200 boundary posts like the one you see below, then scraping the peeling paint off them, then re-painting them. The operative word for me being “paint.” If the county is so concerned about her daughter’s crime, shouldn’t she just have to chalk them?…
Hi Folks! I’m trying to gather examples of warnings, waivers and official worires that annoy, amuse or outrage you, especially regarding your kids. For instance, over in England schools are forbidding parents from taking pictures at plays. One sports program requires shutter-happy parents to wear a special ARM BAND if they’re going to snap pix. In this amazing article, Josie Appleton, head of The Manifesto Club, writes that the “Robin Hood primary and nursery school in Nottinghamshire says its photographs are stored in a ‘secure location’ for not more than four years, after which they are ‘privately destroyed.'” Like government…
Here’s a modern day ill: The excessive signing-in we’re required to do at schools, as if they’re nuclear reactors. I still don’t understand why. If I were intent on wreaking havoc, wouldn’t I at least get a fake ID to flash? The whole exercise reeks of “security theater.” And at my kids’ schools I just have to sign in once, unlike this lady! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m in the process of discussing a ridiculous policy with my child’s school. I have to sign in THREE times within 5 minutes to pick up my daughter from preschool. They make…
Hi Folks! The place where we spend our summers is a cool, old-fashioned, very Free-Range bungalow colony, about an hour and 15 mins from New York City. We’ve been renting a cottage here for the past 11 summers and we love it. In fact, we love it so much I’m helping to spread the word: Cottages are still available for August and, of course, there’s next summer, too! Here’s a little video my husband and I made about the place. Here’s even more info. And here’s its Facebook page. If you want to visit — come up this Saturday, Aug.…
Hi Readers! Here it goes again – a man, a kid, a cop. Read on. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Recently my youngest daughter and I had an experience that really shook me up (both of us, actually), and I wanted to share it with you. We were walking to the library together, and she was holding my hand and trying to pull me into telephone poles and whatnot as we walked, which is a silly game that she enjoys. Suddenly a police car pulled up beside us, lights on and everything. The cop gets out of his car, says…
Does baby need a barista? Nestle thinks so. It’s launching new “single serve” bottles made from purest of purely pure water. The machine works just like one of those pop-in-a-pod coffee makers. According to the BabyNes website: The single-serve portions are sealed in capsules, used in the proprietary BabyNes machine, which recognises each capsule and prepares the bottle with precisely the right dosage and temperature, at the push of a button, in less than one minute. The BabyNes machine combines state-of-the-art technology with the utmost safety and convenience, and ensures a hygienic, quick and easy bottle preparation. Here’s the deal.…