Hi Folks! Here’s a heartfelt letter from a mom haunted by the horrible stories we hear all the time (sometimes decades later) of murdered children. Though she said in subsequent, very sweet notes to me that she doesn’t want any help, and is raising her kids the way she feels is right — as are we all! — I’m wondering if you have any kind words that might help her feel a little less pessimistic about strangers. Dear Free-Range Kids: I was a Free-Range Kid. I understand the theory behind letting your kids Free-Range. I even support and feel…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks! Here’s a heartening letter from Susan in the Northwest, below. And, on another not: Not to worry — I’ll be blogging AND vlogging and figuring out new ways to get the Free Range message out. I’m always looking for ideas and suggestions and sometimes…help. For instance, if anyone wants to research a topic like comparing two schools — one with a “background check required” policy for volunteers and one without, to see if the checks make any REAL difference (Is the school safer? Do fewer parents volunteer?) — that would be great. Grad students? Sociologists? Anyone? Drop a…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp4yfHTR3Gc
youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBTlTS2rYoI?rel=0&w=560&h=315 Hey Readers — So I’m starting to “vlog.” Be gentle! Meantime, here’s the piece about the town that just voted to require background checks for those nefarious ice cream men, and here’s a note from the post about “If You are Male You are Under Suspicion” that shows how background check mania is spreading: My hubby who has been coaching our boys hockey for 16 years just received a letter from our police to come in and submit fingerprints in order for him to continue coaching. The new policy requires this. Fingerprinting!! Never mind that we already…
Hi Folks! In the interest of us starting to find each other AND have fun, Sat., June 23 is Free-Range Picnic Day! I’m hosting one in Monroe, New York (an hour and 20 mins from the city — reachable by car or bus), and some of YOU are hosting picnics, too! Below are the invites so far. If you would like to organize a picnic in YOUR neck of the woods — great. Just put the info in a comment, below. In a few days I’ll post about this again, with all the latest parties. Welcome summer! LENORE’S POTLUCK PICNIC:…
Hi Folks — Two letters I got, two days apart: Dear Free-Range Kids: I have always wanted to have something to share about my experience as a Free-Range Kid parent, but today I don’t get to do that. My story is of how the 9 or 10-year-old girl from down the street came over and said she can only play if my wife is at home. I said “Oh, really?” and marched her home and confronted her mom and sure enough, it’s not acceptable for me to be the only parent in the house when she over. “It’s to protect…
Readers — Print this out and hand it to your friends who insist that, “Times have changed,” and, “It’s so unsafe now!” and “Crime is going up.” Here it is, straight from The Wall Street Journal. A little piece about the crime rate. — L.
Hey Folks — Here’s a little anecdote to start your day. Apparently the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, left his 8-year-old daughter in a pub. It was (almost) the usual kind of mix up: He left with his bodyguards and assumed she was with his wife and the other kids. Mom (or, I guess, “Mum”) assumed the girl was with daddy. In fact, she was in the bathroom and emerged to find her family gone. While the Associated Press reports the parents were “distraught” when they realized she wasn’t with either, they called the pub and learned she was fine.…
Readers — Here’s what the police blotter in Johnson City, Tenn. describes as this mom’s crime: On Thursday, June 7, 2012 April L Lawson, W/F, 27, 1104 King Springs Rd, Johnson City, TN was arrested by officers of the Johnson City Police Department and charged with child neglect. The arrest stems from a 911 call in reference to a missing child. During the investigation, officers discovered that Lawson had allowed her two children, ages 8 and 5, to walk to the playground at Mountain View Elementary School where they were without adult supervision and unattended. After sending someone to check…
Readers — Get a load of this. For their senior trip, some students from a Philly high school went to Williamsburg, VA for four days. When eight of them got into trouble for causing plumbing damage in a hotel bathroom, they were sent home, on a train. So can you guess what the problem is, according to the media (and livid parents)? These “children” (aged 17 and 18, I presume) were on the train “unchaperoned!” For five whole hours! And, of course, “Anything could have happened!” as one mom predictably lamented. You know what? Something DID happen. They screwed up…