Author: lskenazy

Hi Readers — Thanks to all of you who sent in the wackiest “What If?” worry of the weekend: News reports that the new Video Barbie — a Barbie with a built-in video camera — “could” be used by child pornographers. The key word for us is “could.” The key words for the media? “Barbie,” “child porn,” “danger,” and, of course, “parents.” The whole thing was just a big Christmas gift for the news, which jumped all over the story. What happened was this: The FBI, which clearly has too much time on its hands, sent out a warning to…

Hi Readers! Over at Lisa Belkin’s Motherlode at the NY Times, there’s a really frank and nicely written piece by a woman who came to the exact opposite conclusion I did. She was mulling whether or not to hire a male babysitter for her child. On the one hand, the young man she interviewed seemed like a dream: He grew up in the nabe, his mom ran a day care center, he sounded warm on the phone and had great references. On the other hand… He was male. In the end, surprised by her own misgivings about men,  the writer…

Hi Readers — I went to check the forecast on weather.com this morning and up popped an app, unbidden: “Mom’s Daily Planner.” How the site KNEW I’m a mom I won’t even speculate. But here are the day parts it broke the day down into: Lunchtime PM Bus Stop Evening Activity Excuse me — “PM Bus Stop” is now an official part of a mom’s day? We are EXPECTED to be at the bus stop to pick up our children? Expected to drop everything to stand guard at the bus stops that have existed for decades, where kids used to…

Hi Readers! Allow me to direct you to my piece on ParentDish today (gotta spread the word beyond these pixels!): “Yearbook Blacks Out Kids’ Eyes for Fear of Porn Potential.” And that’s really what it’s about: A principal in England ordered the students’ photos disfigured in the yearbook so that no one could cut and paste their innocent little heads onto child porn and post them on the Internet. Talk about a pervert. Her! What kind of creep even THINKS like that? And, in a related finding so new and surprising that I don’t even have an opinion about yet,…

Hi Readers — Here’s today’s hint of the coming apocalypse. This sign: And here’s the note I got, alerting us all to it: Dear Free-Range Kids:  I was visiting a dear friend yesterday in a nearby town and drove by this sign.   I was so shocked by it I had to stop and take a picture.   I wondered what on earth it could be about — perhaps the school district is getting rid of background checks for employees?   Perhaps volunteers don’t need background checks and fingerprinting?   Perhaps the door to the school would be left open…

Hi nekzradadn Readers: From today’s mailbox, an intriguing little piece. – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: I have two boys — 6 and 8 — and am learning about letting go. Can I talk about a “What If?”  a little in reverse? . I took the stupid netting off my kids trampoline because I thought it was making them complacent about how to jump safely. The net was always there to stop them from learning. . A month ago my boys and a friend were all jumping and the friend decided he would push my older son off the trampoline…

Hi Readers — One of the biggest frustrations in Free-Ranging is dealing with other people’s “What If?” fears. Why? Because they can never be answered! If a parent starts worrying about, “What if X, Y or Z happens while my child is doing…” anything, there is no way to say, “Don’t worry, it won’t.”  Because, of course,  something bad always COULD possibly happen. “What if??” doesn’t take into account probability, or even reality. It just builds big, bright, horrible possibilities and projects them, Power Point-like, into the conversation: “Ha! You tell me not to worry, but LOOK at this! This…

Readers — I gotta go cook a turkey, but meantime, look at this. The REASON this Cleveland elementary school is making Chapstick contraband is that kids might SHARE it: Parents were afraid that children would share the Chapstick and spread germs,” [schools spokeswoman] Sessoms said. “By requiring written permission from the parents, parents would be aware that their children had Chapstick and would be able to remind them not to share it with other children. This would also be a way for teachers to be aware so that they could deter students from sharing it with others.” For this same…

Hi Readers — A bunch of you pointed to this story today and indeed, it’s pretty irresistible: A teacher sent a memo home to all sixth grade students saying the could NOT bring pencils to class. Furthermore “… any students caught with pencils or pens after Nov. 15 would face disciplinary action for having materials ‘to build weapons.'” The higher-ups at school later said the teacher was not authorized to send home this note. (Then they took her out back and shot her with a Ticonderoga #2.) — Lenore

Hi Readers!  This is such a disturbing story. A Scottish boy who was 10 was painting scenery on the ground for a school play back in 2003 when one of the other painters got up, bumping into him. This caused him to fall on another student’s paintbrush, which — this is so horrible — pierced him through the eye, causing blindness in the eye and brain damage. Now a court has ruled that the teachers at the school should have “foreseen” that such an event was, if not likely, at least POSSIBLE.  Wrote the judge: When one looks at the…