Hey Readers! Check out today’s “Over the Hedge” comic — so wonderful on every level (even though reading it makes my tongue hurt). Thank you, oh Michael Fry and T Lewis!
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks and look! It’s the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer! How long has it been since you changed your baby? Don’t go by smell or wailing — so old hat. Simply check your battery operated, pocket-size “Itzbeen.” It’ll tell you how long! Speaking of which: How long since you fed the little bugger? Don’t listen for hunger cries. Don’t try to think back several whole hours. What are you, some kind of genius freak? Check a piece of technology instead! Surely you can find your Iztbeen. It’s right…um…well, I thought it was right by the pacifier. Wait. Where’s the pacifier? Come…
Hi Readers! How the Danes must be puzzled by our abduction obsession. Here’s what happened when a thief in Copenhagen found a cargo bike outside a store and stole it — not realizing three kids were sleeping inside the big container-thing attached to the front. Thanks to all of you who sent in this bizarre (but kind of heartwarming) story! — Lenore
Hi Readers! Bad gym teacher = bad life. I KNEW it. And now, that’s what this fykbteinsy cool study by Billy Strean, a professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, has just confirmed: “A lifelong negative attitude toward physical activity can be determined by either a good or bad experience, based on the personal characteristics of the coach or instructor. For example…a teacher who has low energy, is unfair and/or someone who embarrasses students.” Maybe that’s why I was always so scared of my gym teachers! (Well, that and the fact I couldn’t get off…
Hi Readers! What in tarnation? A 10-year-old girl brings peppermint oil to school, gives a few drops to her friends to flavor their water, and the next thing you know, she receives a whole, big in-school suspension, according to this article in The Boston Post (by way of Newsday). Now, danger-wise, peppermint oil is right up there with ice cream sodas. It sounds like something the Music Man might peddle on the side, and it is ridiculous that the school went bonkers about it. On the other hand, the principal did have a shred of reason going for him when…
Hi Readers! Here’s a note from a Free-Ranger named Cari Noga. Let’s give her some ideas! — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: I just posted this in the “ideas” section on your blog, but thought I’d send it direct, too. On your blog you ask, “Do you ever let your kid ride a bike to the library?” My question is, “What do you do if the library won’t let your kid in?” After two recent incidents I’m looking for ideas on how to positively approach my local library about its policy on “unattended children.” Currently it states that “children under age…
Or at least his show is looking into it tomorrow (Tuesday). Check it out! He even gets the capitalization and punctuation of “Free-Range” right! Of course, the idea that Free-Rangers may be “under-involved” in their children’s lives is something we heartily dispute, but I have a feeling Dr. Phil will, too. When I was on his show last year he seemed very much on the side of fostering independence. I’m not on the show tomorrow but I’ve got high hopes. We are movin’ into the mainstream! — Lenore New Parenting Styles Are you a parent who is over- or under-involved…
Hi Readers! I’ve been thinking about a note I got the other day from a dad who’s trying to raise his daughter Free-Range. He wasn’t sure he was doing it “right.” While some folks called him crazy for taking his girl on globe-trotting, capital-A adventures, he said, the alternative appalled him: “Maybe I should join the ranks and become one of those less risky parents who lets the kids sit on the couch playing video games, feeds them fast food and pumps them full of Ritalin.” What struck me is that…I am one of those parents! I have a kid…
Once in a while you gotta go off-message. That time is now, since it’s still — for a few hours — vacation. Just saw this great video and had to share it. Oh wait — maybe it IS relevant because I trust the streets of New York, despite creatures like this.
Hi Readers and Happy New Year! Feel like posting a Free-Range Resolution? Go ahead! Inspire us all! Meantime, this article on the site Scientific Blogging is a little long, but it’s a good one to start the year on. (And thank you, GreenDadsBlog, for sending it.) It boils down to a truth many of us suspected: When we try to shelter our kids from all stress — the stress of disappointment, difficulty, confusion, pain, regret — we’re not doing them any favors. As the author, Andrea Kuszewski, says: Parents may feel that by preventing their child from encountering any and…