Hi Readers — Here’s a lovely guest post responding to The New York Times article from last week, “A Best Friend? You Must Be Kidding,” by Hilary Stout. The article was all about “friendship coaches” and teaching our kids the “right” way to be friends. Blecch. Enjoy the counterpoint. L. Dear Free Range Kids: NJ Mom here. After reading the New York Times friendship article, I went on such a rant that Lenore asked me to pull myself together and write something up. The article concerns the latest bizarre twist to the seemingly never-ending micromanaging of middle/upper middle class children.…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks! I’m a pacifist at heart and I have no desire to see guns in the school. But I also have no desire to see a boy told he cannot wear the hat he decorated with toy soldiers because the soldiers are carrying — guess what? Toy guns. Ooh! How terrifying! You can find me under the desk! As this A.P. article by Michelle Smith explains, the second grader made the hat for some kind of hat day, and he was inspired by having met a soldier last year. He wanted to honor the guy and our troops. That’s…
Hi Readers — Things are roiling in England where it seems the powers that be are finally reconsidering their bizarre policy of requiring background checks for ANYONE having ANY contact with kids. That included authors coming to speak in schools, moms (or “mums”) volunteering to work as class parents, field trip chaperones — in all, 9 million people were required to get checked. Or they were about to be, anyway, until a few days ago when the “Home Secretary” made remarks to the effect of: What a paranoid policy! Let’s get dump it! This unleashed a flood of comments, pro…
Readers — Once again, I’m just at a loss for words. Here’s the story of a 14-year-old boy named Edwin who was shopping with his mom at a Burlington Coat Factory in Florida. When he saw a 3-year-old girl looking lost he took her around to try to find her mom. His own mom saw him go looking and said she would try to help, too. Then Edwin saw a group of women leaving the store and thought the girl’s mom might be among them. So he went out of the store and finally took the little girl’s hand. When…
Hi Readers — I’m still on the road and just gave a speech in Chicago sponsored by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. (A jolly bunch!) Safe Routes reps every state gathered to talk about the pressing question: How can we get more kids walking to school? The organization says that a generation ago, two thirds of f kids walked or biked to school. Today, 20-25% do. I’ve heard numbers even lower than that. So Safe Routes (funded by the Dept. of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration) aims to get kids back to walking to school by whatever means…
Hi Readers! I’m in Minnesota to give a Free-Range talk. Always happy to spread the word because then things like this — see below — start happening! This post originally appeared at the blog Last American Childhood. by Rachel Federman. Enjoy! A Free-Range Exeperiment by Rachel Federman In the playground this morning I tried to apply a bit of Free-Range parenting to my usual routine (albeit with someone else’s kids). A lady with a newborn was trying to round up her boys (3 and 4) so she could put her laundry from the washer to the dryer in a nearby…
Hi Readers! This post origianlly ran on Brain Twinkles, a blog by Layne Aingell. Some of us may join Layne in her break up! — L. I have watched The Today Show for over thirty years. I remember when it was hosted by Jane Pauley, her pony tail, and Tom Brokaw. I started watching it as I’d get ready for school during junior high, through high school, college and beyond. I watch it with my girls as we get ready for school and work. It always has interesting stories and does it really get any cuter than Matt Laurer. Plus,…
Hi Readers! A bunch of you have forwarded this story, from livescience.com, that I’ve been mulling for days: ‘Helicopter’ Parents Have Neurotic Kids, Study Suggests The piece is about a study of 300 college freshmen that found the students who are “dependent, neurotic and less open,” may have their over-involved, over-worried, helicopter parents to thank for crippling them. It even went on to say that “in non-helicoptered students who were given responsibility and not constantly monitored by their parents, so-called ‘free rangers,’ the effects were reversed.” [Boldface, mine.] So here’s our movement, being scientifically legitimized, and even called by its…
Hi Down There! In about an hour I’m giving a talk to the YPAA — Young People & the Arts, Australia — and I’m psyched! (And Skyped!) Meantime, an Australian TV show, Today Tonight, is looking for Free-Range Families to appear in a story about the movement. If you’re down there and interested in being on the show, please drop an email to the producer, Erina, at EFlessas@seven.com.au , SOON! Thanks! — L.
Hi Readers — Boy, your letters keep blowing me away. Here’s another one that made me think — and fume. It reminds me of a great essay by Spiked Online contributor Nancy McDermott (Spiked is sort of Britain’s Slate) about how this generation of parents treats every childrearing decision as a Nobel-worthy research project. McDermott calls it the “tyranny of scientific parenting.” I’m sure it’ll sound familiar to any of us who’ve ever said, “Aw, let’s not sweat it. ” Read on! Dear FRK: I am a first time mom of a four month old son. I wouldn’t think…