Author: lskenazy

Hi Readers — Here’s a piece I wrote for ParentDish about “Annie’s Mailbox” (which seems to be filled with nuts). The question — or really statement by an Annie reader was — “Don’t put those little decals on your car that say your family members’ names or you will be followed by predators.” To which Annie replied, “That’s paranoid! Is a predator really going to schlep around town, following your car? Don’t forget that MOST child abuse occurs at the hands of someone the child knows.” No, she replied the usual, “Can’t be too careful” and “Just in case” and…

Hi Readers — This seemed like the perfect companion piece to the post below this one, about our intense, almost obsessive focus on predators. Gosh, remember when “predator” was most commonly used to describe, like, a mountain lion or great horned owl? Those were the days! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: We belong to a very small Methodist church, about 100 people attend every week. Our Sunday School classes are small, maybe 5 to 7 kids in each. The conference came out with a Safe Sanctuary policy to help us address issues of child safety. Now all of our teachers…

Hey Readers — Here’s a comment that came in the other day in response to a woman who is very wary of stranger danger. I liked its logic: Dear Amy (the woman who was consumed with predator fear): I can sort of see where you’re coming from, but take a logical approach. There’s a chance for something bad to happen in cars and buses, which people use on a daily basis. And there’s also something dangerous that could happen with almost everything you do in life. Some we just don’t think about. Others, people are VERY aware of. Like kidnappings.…

Wow, folks. This just in. The very, very brave and hard to spell town of Niskayuna, New York is finally allowing ice cream trucks to cruise the streets again (for a month-long trial) after a 34-year hiatus. The trucks were banned for a year back in 1975 after a girl was struck and killed while running to a truck. The next year the town allowed the trucks back IF they played no music and didn’t try to attract kids by driving up and down the street. (Putting good ol’ ice cream telepathy to work, I guess.) They were allowed to…

Hi Readers — I’ll write about my fabulous day with Mary Duval and her “sex offender” son soon, but first: One of you just sent in this piece that resonated so much. It’s called, “Frolicking 101: When Did Kids Stop Knowing How to Play?” by comedian/essayist Sarah Maizes. Excerpt: My kids are frolicking!   Really!!  MY children! They’re outside, they’re running around, they’re having fun – without colorful plastic toys, without a play structure, without an adult overseeing, supervising, or facilitating…without ME! Just a big backyard, rolling grass, a random hill or two and my kids.   I’ve never seen…

Hi Readers! I’m very psyched because tomorrow I am going to meet a young man named Ricky and his mom, Mary Duval. Ricky is a Tier 3 Predator Status Sex Offender, on the list for life. Or at least he was, for almost four years. How he finally got off that list this year is a story of a mom’s tenacity. How he got ON it is a story of a country that has passed sex offender laws that just don’t mesh with what we need. We NEED to keep child rapists away from our kids. We HAVE laws that…

Hi Readers! This cool note came in from the West Coast. I feel darn timid and tame after reading it. — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m a 47 year old lawyer, male, married 22 years, kids 5 and 8. I was born in Southern California but raised from age 2-6 in Guadalajara, Mexico where my father went to medical school. I remember riding the bus there with my brother who was four years older and it was no big deal. My parents left us with the maid/nanny named Letty for 10 days while they went to California to work and…

Hi Readers ! This just in. Read it and…give your kids some matches! (Yes, yes, properly supervised, of course.) — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I am a high school science teacher, parent, and grandparent and a former cubmaster, and I couldn’t agree with you more! This summer I taught a workshop on building model rockets for 12 to 14 year-olds. None of the 17 kids in the workshop had ever sprayed spray paint, most had never used a utility knife, and two did not know how to tie a knot. Many of my high school students light their first match…

Hi Folks — It’s Sunday, a lazy day, so here are some my recent Tweets (from Twitter) you might like: Great Salon piece: When do you let your kids babysit?  http://bit.ly/carbKy Perfect one-panel comic about kids and their chemistry sets! http://bit.ly/by86B8 How a country without A.C. would be warmer in many GOOD ways: http://bit.ly/8Y7fsv Strange new trend: “Make believe” camps where kids are encouraged to play the old-fashioned (sort of) way: http://nyti.ms/czSkZe Students not allowed to touch rocks! Given a POSTER of rocks instead: http://bit.ly/d2Q98p Excuse me. This is a toy for…a kid? Not, say, a lonely mom? Dora, I’m…

Hi Readers! In response to a post about schools and camps outlawing hugs (for legal and fear-of-perverts issues) a reader named Melanie wrote this: When will society as a whole stop modifying, changing and politicizing every single normal human action? The rules are becoming so numerous and far-reaching that it’s difficult to know how to act when outside your own home!  Are we breeding a society of unemotional, anti-human, mini robots with all this nonsensical, fear-minded thinking? It hit home with me, since I think everything from baby classes on how to “clap,” to new contraptions to “help” non-disabled children…