Author: lskenazy

Hi Readers — This is an inspiring column by Peter White, an English broadcaster who’s blind. It reminds me that our job as parents is to believe in our kids — to believe they can rise to a challenge. On the road (and as I film my reality show), I hear from a lot of parents who think it is dangerous to let their kids do anything on their own — walk to school, babysit, take a bus, you name it — because they might get hurt or frustrated. I hope that some of those parents read this essay, because…

Hi Readers — We have all heard from parents who would LIKE to let their kids have the kind of stay-out-till-the-streetlights-come-on childhoods they themselves enjoyed. BUT, say those parents, “Times have changed. It feels so much more dangerous now!” “Feels” is the operative word. In this essay by Steven Pinker, we learn that we may well be living in the safest times in human history: This claim, I know, invites skepticism, incredulity, and sometimes anger. We tend to estimate the probability of an event from the ease with which we can recall examples, and scenes of carnage are more likely…

Hi Readers — This is a candid letter from the mom of a sex offender who is on the registry for life. Read it and see if our sex offender laws are doing the job they were intended to do: keep our kids safe from predators. — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: My son was recently subjected to a death threat when a neighbor discovered that he was listed on the sex offender registry. What heinous crime had my son committed that our neighbor deemed worthy of death? “Falling in love.” . He was 17, she told him she was 16.…

Hi Readers! Can you help this mom? L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’ve been reading your blog and readers’ comments for better than a year now.   Never really thought I’d have an experience similar to the ones I read about on your blog, but yesterday it happened.   My children are nearly-5 (boy) and 3.5 (girl).   We live in a very safe neighborhood in the Midwest, with wide sidewalks.   Thankfully, I can report that I frequently see many of children playing in their yards or at our local park (without helicoptering parents), and riding their bikes to our…

Hi Folks! At a school for 7- to 11-year-olds in England, says the BBC, they’ve banned leather footballs (that is, soccer balls)  at what sounds like recess and perhaps before and after school. Leather balls can be for “football club” and “specific” P.E. lessons. But otherwise, all regulation balls will be replaced by balls made out of sponge. Sort of like childhood itself: That time of daring and doing gradually being replaced with a squishy-safe facsimile of adventure. And while we’re on the topic of Safety First, Last & Always, to the point of no return, here’s a marvelous letter…

Hi Readers! I gathered together a few of the 341 responses to  the other day’s post,  “As Recently as 1979 a First Grader Could…,”to remind us of what kids are capable of (when we don’t give in to the fear-mongering media). Enjoy! – L Jackie: When I lived in Panama, 6 year olds would scale a coconut tree (no side branches) with a machete, cut down a head of coconuts, slide down using their bare feet as brakes, and whack the heck out of a coconut with their machete until it was cleaned of the outer coat and had a…

Hi Readers! Lisa, the mother of a 3-year-old, who lives in Atlanta and blogs at  Organic Baby Atlanta  found this “tip” at  safekids.org  when she was researching bike safety for toddlers: “Because they are not ready to ride  bicycles, children under the age of five ride tricycles. ” Notes Lisa: . Wow. What a blanket statement. So there’s never been a single 4-year-old on a real bike? Not one? Funny, because I see kids under age five riding real bikes in my neighborhood all the time. And — oh, wait — isn’t my daughter under five? Yeah, that’s right: she’s…

Hi Readers — Got this note yesterday and it really resonated, mostly because it shows another instance of the authorities being deliberately dense, “for the sake of the children.” The case reminds me of the Zero Tolerance laws, when schools deliberately refuse to acknowledge the difference between a Lego gun and a Glock, or a Cub Scout “spork” and a spear. While I applaud the idea of helping kids if they have problems like cutting, I am sick of this cultural decision to be dumb as a stump. So read on, if you don’t mind getting mad, too. This comes…

Hi Readers! — Some thoughts on how easily we criminalize erstwhile normal behavior. These are brought to us by Ann Sattley, a stay-at-home mother of two boys and author of the book  Technically, That’s Illegal: An Experiment in Following the Rules  and the blog of the same name,where she questions the efficacy of many laws. The Home of the (lol) “Brave”? by Ann Sattley When we say that the United States is the “Home of the Brave,” we must not be talking about our children or their parents. We can’t very well be the home of the brave if we…