Hey Readers — Take a look at this column by Glenn Cook in The Las Vegas Review Journal, “The Obesity Cure: Free Range Kids.” I know we are not all positive that there IS an obesity epidemic or, if there is, what its root causes are, but I think we can all agree that most kids today are less active than their parents were, for reasons ranging from Club Penguin to Nancy Grace. And even if they’re in organized sports, that’s still a different kettle of fish than coming home and riding a bike around the neighborhood till suppertime. Yesterday…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers — Just got this letter today and what’s cool is that the writer, Aaron, is asking for your input, not just mine. That’s good because I don’t have a lot of advice for this fellow, except, “Alert the police.” So — let’s see what other great ideas are out there! — L. Dear Lenore: I am interested in your advice and the advice of other Free-Range Kids readers about a situation we appear to be having. The area I live in is decidedly suburban and middle class (suburban DC actually), and I’ve never for a moment felt…
Hi Readers — Here’s a cute letter from a new mom: Dear Free-Range Kids, I”ve thought of your book often during this first month of parenthood. Thought you might want to know that I have: 1) Left my baby in his Pack and Play while I…….stepped outside to get the mail!!!!! 2) Put my baby carefully in his bassinet while I…….took a shower!!!!!!!! 3) The big one: We went to Target, and when I approached a crowded aisle, I left him in the shopping cart by the edge of the aisle and stepped about five feet into the aisle to…
Hi Free-Rangers: Do we have some advice for this fellow? If so, let’s share it! — L Dear FRK: I have embraced Free Range parenting. Unfortunately my ex-wife and mother of our four children is afraid to let our 8-year-old out of her sight, and plays the “What if?” game: “What if he is attacked by space aliens who want to steal his bike and bully him on the way home from school in our upper-middle-class neighborhood where there is hardly any crime, let alone violent crime, but it COULD happen?” It’d be great if there was a “tools to…
Hi Readers — I’m working on a project that may (or, alas, may not) involve me interacting with real world moms and dads and kids, giving some Free-Range tips and having fun (and drinking their coffee and eating their cookies). And guess what? The try-out phase is FRIDAY! Yes indeed, this Friday afternoon. So if you’d like me to come over for an hour or so to chat with you about what you’d like your kid to maybe start doing on his/her own, whether that’s cutting a sandwich, making a playdate, sitting in the playpen while you take a shower,…
Hey Readers! Here’s an inspiring post by Jacqueline Edelberg, former Fulbright scholar and now author of How to Walk to School: Blueprint for a Neighborhood School Renaissance, foreword by Arne Duncan and afterword by Rahm Emanuel (with whom I went to elementary school!). Her story on turning around a school has been featured on NPR, CNN, 60 Minutes — a lot of media. But I hadn’t heard of it till now, and I’m so glad she dropped a note! In my New York neighborhood, something similar did indeed transpire: A miserable school became an enviable one, with parents who’d shunned…
Hi Readers — You may enjoy this essay from The Telegraph by Tom Hodgkinson, author of The Idle Parent. His points basically boil down to: Stay home on the weekends. Let your kids bring you breakfast in bed (they’ll want to do this because they are bored and it’s something fun to do). Don’t spend money on fancy kiddie entertainment (including everything from children’s carnivals to electronics), make your kids entertain themselves. But when you want to be involved, remember: There are lots of tickle games you can play while sitting on the couch. The piece even includes an Idle…
Hi Readers! Just back from the dead, after a grilling incident left me with second degree burns on my right hand FINGER TIPS! Bad news for a blogger (and YEOW!!!!!). So I went to the E.R. and got some very powerful pain drugs. So powerful that they left me lying on the floor all day yesterday, lifting my head only to vomit. Now, happily, my fingers are fine (tap, tap, tap) and I have vowed never to take a Vicodin again. And now, on to less personal gripes. Check out this essay, “Helicopter Moms, Heading for a Crash,” from Sunday’sWashington…
Hey Readers — As we head into a weekend celebrating life and liberty (at least on this side of the pond), let’s celebrate the liberty that has come to Edwin McFarlane, the young man charged with abducting the lost 3-year-old he was trying to help. The State Attorney’s Office announced it won’t prosecute. Here’s our original post on the topic. And here’s the happy ending — complete with mentor overload for the young man, who now has a whole bunch of adults hoping to help steer him to a successful life. We hope the same thing for him! Happy weekend…
Hi Readers — Here’s a really valuable column because it addresses something that had been nibbling — and biting and punching — its way into parental concern: Bullying. No one likes bullies or bullying. But why is it suddenly so high on a radar? Why are we talking about it all the time? Is it a question of finally getting the attention it deserves? Or is it getting TOO much attention, the way so many other childhood events are getting too much attention, like the falls toddlers inevitably take? (Now addressed by a number of “safety” devices.) Or the “problem”…