Hi Readers — Just a little day brightener from the Free-Range Front. L. Dear Free-Range Kids — I have a parenting theory: I never do for a child what that child can do for himself. For the past few months I’ve given my three-year-old daughter my library card and stood a few feet behind her while she checks out her books in the children’s section of the library. This morning I decided to take it a step further. I gave her my card and told her to go check out her books on her own. (I did tell…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers! Jeffrey Goldberg penned this pretty darn perfect bit of advice in a column called, “What’s Your Problem?” in the current issue of The Atlantic. Here’s the question: Ever since our first child was born, I have slept very poorly. When I close my eyes, my mind becomes crowded with worries. I worry about my kids’ safety, their future, college education, happiness, just about anything you could think of. Is there anything I can do to put my mind at ease? N.E., Atlanta, Ga. Dear N.E., Alas, no. You are suffering from an incurable disease called parenthood. The birth…
Hi Readers: Here are some excerpts from a discussion going on — the kind of discussion we can all undertake, when we come face to face with the safety “advice” that only makes people more scared. The tips that begin this exchange (vastly edited down, by me) were posted on a PTA list serve by a police department’s “safety expert.” Here goes: [FROM THE LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT] TO ALL: If you are a parent, you are certainly concerned about the increasing amount of criminal activity directed against children of all ages. From assaults, molestation and kidnapping of very young children,…
Hi Readers! Remember this story — about the mom whose neighbors called the police because they saw her three children playing outside, unattended? That sort of epitomized my fears for our country: Busybodies AND the authorities meddling in normal childhood, as if it’s too dangerous. This new note from the mom gives me great heart. Let’s hope it bodes well for 2011! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: All week I have been wanting to write to you. Fortunately, this time, with good news! It has been a year since you posted my story regarding the police telling me my kids…
Hi Readers: This one will make your blood boil even if it’s freezing outside. It’s about a North Carolina high school senior suspended for a paring knife found in her lunchbox, which, for the record, was actually her dad’s identical lunchbox that she brought to school by mistake. (Dad pares his apples at lunch, his daughter doesn’t.) Sometimes I worry that by printing these weird Zero Tolerance stories — stories of kids suspended for the most innocent of “crimes” — I am giving as warped a picture of our culture as the nightly news does. (Albeit, with a different slant.)…
Hi Readers: Just got this note. Read on! Dear Free-Range Kids: I swear, I could just cry at the stranger-danger hysteria these days. I have the good fortune to be self-employed. As such, I can work whenever and wherever I want, so today I chose to work at the mall. (I know, right?) Did a little shopping, had a little lunch, now I’m ensconced in the bookstore cafe, latte in one hand, mouse in the other, waiting for my husband to get off work so we can go home together. I am not a conventional looking woman, I guess, which makes…
Hi Readers — Another day, another lawsuit, another childhood institution crushed. In this case, back in 2001 a Scout troop in England was playing a game where everyone had to grab a block from a pile in the middle of the room. Get there last and there’s no block left for you. Sounds like musical chairs. Anyway, to make it more fun, the troop decided to turn the lights out and play by the glow of the “Exit” signs and guess what? A 13-year-old kid hurt his shoulder. Not so much that he could not go on and play rugby…
Hi Readers — As a week of no school looms, here are some ideas for outdoor fun from Heidi Ahrens, a Colorado mom of two very active Free-Range girls. Heidi runs the website and social network community OutdoorBabyNetwork. You may also find traces of Heidi on NYC streets where she once played. Me? I love Idea #4: How fun would it be to give out hot cider on a cold day? Fun! — L Top Six Holiday fun Outdoor Activities by Heidi Ahrens Don’t stay cooped up inside during the holiday season. Get some fresh air, play with the kids…
Hi Readers: We interrupt this well-focused blog to bring you my Year in Carols. I write ’em every year — can’t help myself. Sing ’em, share ’em, post ’em on YouTube if you can’ keep a tune. (I can’t!) We’ll be back to Free-Range issues very soon. But meantime: Enjoy! — L. THE YEAR IN CAROLS By LENORE SKENAZY FROSTY THE TRAVELER (TO “FROSTY THE SNOWMAN”) Frosty the Traveler was a snowman on the go With a corn-cob pipe and a carry-on And a book by Scott Turrow. . Frosty the Traveler, had a plane to catch that day So…
Hi Readers — When I go around giving my Free-Range Kids lectures, at some point I hold up a pair of little knit things that look like mini sweat bands and I ask the audience, “What are these?” And when I finally inform them, “Baby knee pads,” they shriek in disbelief. (At least, the ones who aren’t shrieking, “My mother-in-law just gave us those!”) Since when do kids need knee pads to crawl safely? Aren’t babies born with built-in knee pads called “baby fat”? Isn’t that why their knees adorably dimple? Well, now it turns out that knee pads aren’t…