Hi Readers: Firsts off, thanks to all of you who sent this in: The very first app the FBI is releasing to the public. It’s the “Child ID App,” allowing you to store your kid’s photo, height and weight in one easy-to-retrieve place, and to forward this info instantaneously to the authorities. It was developed, according to the FBI’s site, to put “Child Safety In Your Hands.” After all, the site notes: “A child goes missing every 40 seconds” — that’s 800,000 kids a year. “Many never return home.” My question: Does the FBI read its own statistics? Because I…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers! This was a comment on the post two below this one, and I was nodding along so much, I decided to give it its own post. It’s by a woman named Nanci, who describes herself as “a Midwest mom of two.” — L. Dear Free-Range Kids:.. I really think the bottom line problem is that our society today is “too safe.” When we begin to defeat all the things that used to be dangerous, we lose quite a bit of perspective. We start to gauge safety/danger against absolute safety. One hundred and fifty years ago it was…
Hi Readers! First of all, thank you SO MUCH for the fantastic suggestions on how to help parents get over the fear of BLAME, in the post below this one. Here’s one response that I wanted to highlight because I hear you: We need success stories here, too. Enjoy this one! L. Dear Free-Range Kids: *Other* parents’ ability to let go of that worry have encouraged me to do the same. A recent example: My 13-yo son is attending band camp, 2 miles from our home, for an hour a day M-F. Problem is, I tutor 2 days a week…
Hi Readers! Here’s my situation: When I speak with parents who feel they really have to watch their kids ALL the time, often it’s not just because they fear that otherwise “something terrible” could happen. It’s also because they fear that IF something does, THEY will be blamed. So even if parents are pretty sure their son, say, is ready to walk to school, or scooter on the sidewalk, or play basketball in the park with his friends, they still won’t let him do it, on the off-chance of that double whammy: Disaster + blame — blame they will heap…
Hi Folks — Now that the notion, “How could anyone let their kids walk alone outside?” is back in heavy rotation, here is the blog post of a mom whose 12 year old son was brought home to her by the cops. He wasn’t in any trouble. He was simply scooped up because the cops didn’t think a middle schooler should be walking, by daylight, in an urban area. It freaked them out. I always worry when people in power are scared of non-scary, formerly normal childhood activities. As this boy was picked up in pretty much the same area…
Hi Readers — Here’s a guest post from Darell Hammond, founder and CEO of KaBOOM!, a very cool, national nonprofit trying to ensure a playground within walking distance of every child. Hammond is also author of the New York Times bestselling book, KaBOOM!: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play. So read this while you send the kids outside! — L THE HIDDEN “PRIVILEGE” OF AN UNPRIVILEGED CHILDHOOD, by DARRELL HAMMOND When I was 19 months old, my father went to unload a truck and never came back. My mother, who was left to care for eight children,…
Hi Readers — I just want to apologize to anyone getting a weird email message from me today. My Yahoo email account was hacked. And just in case Yahoo is reading this: It is impossible to get a hold of you, so let me state my complaints here: 1 – Your new email template is frustrating, and your FAQs don’t answer any of the Qs I happen to have about it. I’m sure I’m not alone. 2 – If anyone using your email service is unfortunate enough to get hacked, there is no way to get help from you. No…
Hi Readers — This just in! A creepy old guy was seen taking pix of some young boy in Idaho. The cops were called! The media alerted! Hearts pounded, rage burbled, all because… Um, a grandpa was photographing his grandson. He left when some crazy lady started yelling at him. Here’s the story. — L
Hi Folks — Here’s good news. The Atlanta mom who was convicted of “vehicular manslaughter” after her 4-year-old wriggled away from her and was killed by a drunk driver, does not have to do jail time. While she could have been sent away for three years, she will instead do a year of probation and perform 40 hours of community service. She also has been offered the option of another trial. The driver, meantime, already did six months in jail and was released in October. He will serve the remained of his five-year sentence on probation, reports the Atlanta Journal…
Hi Readers — This post was sent to me by Mendel Klein, a Brooklyn father and a pediatric occupational therapist who writes about the benefits of letting children fail over at, yes, Let Your Child Fail. — L Leiby’s Law Wouldn’t have Prevented Leiby Kletzky’s Death Here we go again. While Leiby Kletzky’s parents and sisters were still sitting the seven days of shiva, mourning the brutal killing of their son, politicians in our community were already announcing a law in reaction to the terrible tragedy that struck them. No need to guess what the law is called. It’s…