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…
Author: lskenazy
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…
Readers — You’ll love the answer Dear Prudence gives to this mom who is freaked out by an elderly man — a friend of her parents — who gives her 5-year-old daughter “gifts” like shells and feathers. Let’s hear it for Dear Prudence! She is so…prudent! And wise! As she tells the mom: …from your description of this situation, my gut feeling is that you have overactive mommy bowels. If you see every friendly man as a potential predator, you’re going to convey unnecessary fear and anxiety to your children. And while we’re on the subject of bowel-churning fear of…
Hi Folks! I want to give these girls a hug! They’re four friends, 12 and 13, who have organized a “Hug In” at their school, where the motto is, “No loving, no shoving.” A motto that makes about as much sense as, “No saving, no shooting.” Ah, but ostensibly the unofficial rule is to “help” students by protecting them from shoving and unwanted touching. So wouldn’t a “No shoving, no unwanted touching” rule be a lot more helpful? Instead, the specter of Zero Tolerance reared its unlovable head, and friendly hugs got swept into the mix. The administrators insist they…
Hi Folks! Too soon to know if this is a trend or just an outrageous blip, but over in New South Wales — the Australian state Sydney is in — the authorities have passed a law that if you’re under 22 and want to work in one of the local “clubs” (that is, casinos), you have to pass a “BullyCheck.” Yep. They call your old school to ask if you were a bully. If you were (or at least appeared to someone to be one), you won’t get the job. Ostensibly this is to convince kids that bullying has real…
Hi Folks! “Mom Arrested for for Age-Old Parenting Practice” is how I would headline this case going down in New Canaan, CT, right now. But the actual article begins, “A 39-year-old woman was arrested for leaving her children at home unattended, police said.” Are children “unattended” if there are four siblings and one of them is 13? (And another is 10?) I’d say that’s the very definition of “attended.” What happened in this particular case is that the 4-year-old sibling some how got out of the house and ventured across the street. Whereupon a “good” Samaritan called the police. To…
Hi Folks! It’s time for all of us to start getting together, especially as summer looms. So Saturday, June 23 is Free-Range Potluck Picnic Day! If you want to host a picnic, just write an invite in the comments, below, or email me at heylenore3@gmail.com . I will list any and all get-togethers in an upcoming blog post. Include the time, the place — a local park or block or home — the Zip Code and a way people can contact you (email address or Facebook page). Also a raindate. And meanwhile, if you are anywhere in the New York…