Hi Readers — Sent by one of you, from a Facebook exchange: KM: Today I toured a “preschool” that makes the kids (4/5 year olds) nap for 2 hours everyday. Lights out, kids laying on cots in the dark for two hours! WTF! AND it cost $140/week. MGK: Um, kids should never be left in the dark at any daycare. Sadly predators will take any chance. KM: There was a teacher in there flipping through a magazine. The place was really small and the doors locked. MGK: Even worse. One teacher, alone in the dark with a child/children and the…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers! As the day winds to a close, I am happy that a whole lot of people read the Wall Street Journal piece about treating all men as potential pedophiles. There were about 200 comments over there. And this is one of the cutest ones I read right here. — L Dear Free-Range Kids This brings me back to about 1973, when I was a wee little preschooler, sitting around on the sidewalk (unsupervised—gasp!) in front of our house on a summer day. My mom came out and said, “Now Mollie, if a man comes over to you and…
Check this out. If I could figure out how to show you the picture here, I would. But I can’t, so click and enjoy! (Or whatever.) — L P.S. Ah! Thanks to my friend Floyd, HERE is the object in question!
Hey Readers! Here’s my piece in today’s Wall Street Journal: Eek! A Male! Treating All Men As Potential Predators Doesn’t Make Our Kids Safer You’ll recognize a lot of the stories from this very blog, so THANK YOU ALL for sending me so many interesting anecdotes and links. Together we are getting the message out: Excess fear does no one any favors — especially kids! — L
Hi Readers — Just because it’s an outrage kind of day, here’s another: A woman was detained at the Canadian border because she was bringing in a Kinder Surprise Egg. You know — the chocolate candy with a prize inside. The problem? That prize presents a choking hazard! The BIGGER problem? A law equating candy with crystal meth! Of COURSE there is a prize inside. That is why people BUY them. The adults know it’s there. The KIDS know it’s there. That is why the word “KINDER” as in “KINDERGARTEN” is featured rather prominently in the candy’s name. What next?…
Hi Readers — This is less about a society than gone crazy than something that drives ME crazy: Power in the hands of people without brains. This particular incident involves a family at a festival in Sydney, Australia. The dad hoisted his not-quite-2-year-old onto his shoulders to get a better look. A guard told him to put the child down — she was in too much danger. After all, WHAT IF the dad got knocked to the ground (as so many parents do at family festivals)? The child would be hurt! Then a gang of guards surrounded the dad to…
Hi Readers! To get the blood flowing this Monday morn: Dear Free-Range Kids: I got a random issue of a parenting magazine in the mail. I don’t subscribe, but I guess it’s a teaser issue to try to drag me in. There’s a Q&A feature in which a mother asked if it was okay to leave her 2.5-year-old in the living room watching a movie while she put her infant down for the night, which involves nursing the baby to sleep in another room. (From my experience, this is usually a 15 minute task, 30 minutes, max.) The response…
Hi Readers — The following is so bizarre, all I can say is, “Wow! The following is so bizarre!” Here goes: Dear Free Range Kids: Here’s a letter from the superintendent that was sent home from school with my kids last night: Beginning around 11 a.m. today, our entire campus was put under “lockout” due to a break-in at a residential home near our campus. Through the efforts of the Niagara County Sheriff’s department, Lewiston Police and local residents, the suspect was apprehended near Cain Road, in Youngstown, around 12:45 p.m. We applaud the efforts of our law enforcement agencies…
Hi Readers — Here’s a letter I couldn’t answer. Can any of you? If so, please do! L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Regarding, “No More Playing in the Dark, Kids.” What would be helpful to know, is how we — parents, scout leaders, teachers and other carers of children — can find ways around this. For example: *Are disclaimers needed to be signed by parents and children? *Can leaders do spur-of-the-moment activities or must every thing be risk assessed in advance? I’m all for a little spontaneity. The Telegraph article is sparse on the details. I’d like to know precisely why…
Readers — Did you hear about the New Year’s Eve discovery of a supernova by a 10-year-old? Pretty cool. That inspired Mental Floss — one of the best-loved magazines at our house — to come up with a list of “10 Amazing Discoveries by Kids.” Having dreamed of becoming an archeologist (my book is dedicated to the teacher who took us junior high kids on a real dig), I was particularly envious of the 9-year-old who found one of the world’s most intact skeletons ever — of a boy 2 million years older than him. What’s more: right next to…