That, my friends, is the question I ask today in my alternate life on ParentDish.com. I am really getting sick of all the warnings about dangerous toys. On a very related note: Today there was a report about all the hideous dangers of holiday ornaments. I agree: You probably don’t want to put a hand-blown crystal ball from Bavaria in the crib next to the toy hammer. But please. The report mentions 76 Xmas-occasioned hospital visits over the course of 13 years, or about 7 a year. Maybe while we’re at it we should start issuing warnings about holidays requiring…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers — Here’s the latest story of a guy, a camera, a warm little Santa scene at the mall…and an arrest. Apparently Scott Rensberger, an award-winning news photographer who has covered conflicts as far away as Bosnia, was at his local mall in West Virginia with the camera he always carries with him. He snapped some pix of Santa and the choir, whereupon a couple of dads insisted he delete the photos because their kids were in them, which he did. This already gets my goat. (Or reindeer, perhaps.) Why do dads think they are being “safe” and “smart”…
Hi rzeisnredt Readers — Here’s a letter I got yesterday. It hit me in the gut because this woman just went through the same process I think a lot of us go through daily: Trying to deal, calmly, with the knee-jerk response of, “That’s too dangerous!” to any suggestion that kids can do anything on their own. Read it and you’ll probably find yourselves nodding along. (Or “Grrrrrr”ing along, in my case. How very mature!) Dear Free-Range Kids: I live in Vermont. Our region is rather rural and, in general, considered “much safer” than a lot of places. Yesterday, I…
Hi Readers! Let’s give this woman some good ideas. She needs them — as do we all! Dear Free-Range Kids: My name is Shaylene Haswarey, and I want to share a story with you today. This morning, my doorbell rang, and two police officers were present. They asked me if I am the mother of my children, and I said yes. They said someone called them because my three oldest kids (ages 9, 7, and 6) were walking around our GATED town-house complex, unattended. I said, “They found a cat, and I let them go out and feed…
From a reader named Delicate Flower: “The closest my kid has ever come to losing a finger in the Maclaren was while I was trying to install the stupid hinge covers.”
Hi Readers! Even as the school board in Saratoga grudgingly allows kids to bike to middle school if they follow a bunch of rules, a bunch of kids in Orlando, Florida just decided: Let’s ride! Here’s their story and a great video of them — especially if you like Bob Dylan soundtracks. As the accompanying article says, “The bike bus isn’t something that was initiated by grown-ups; it was conceived and executed by the kids. It’s a powerful demonstration of the positive influence that young people can have on each other. Maybe they’ll influence some adults too.” Riding bikes to…
Hey folks — swing over to ParentDish, my new gig, if you want to read, “The Greatest Gift of the Season: A Free-Range Childhood.” And happy holidays, while we’re at it! — Lenore
Hi Readers! Remember that case in Saratoga, New York, where a sixth (now seventh) grader wanted to ride his bike to his school — with his mom, even! — but the district forbade it? Well guess what? The district poobahs have now “backpedaled,” as this clever Times Union article put it. But they did it in a way that makes us convinced they still have their heads down where most of us have our bike seats. Listen to the rules kids must obey (or else!) if they want to ride to school: “…under the new rules, students and parents must…
Hi Readers! I know, I know — there are probably another zillion studies that contradict this one, and there’s a danger in being whipsawed by every new “discovery” but as this one SO dovetails with the Free-Range outlook, who could resist? Voila: THINK kiaffthrdn AGAIN ABUOT KEEPING THE LITTLE ONES SO SQUEAKY CLEAN RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT EVERYDAY GERMS MAY PREVENT DISEASES IN ADULTHOOD Yes, so reads the headline on a study just released by Northwestern University that suggests that raising kids in too antiseptic an environment could lead to heart trouble (of all things!) down the way. The problem seems…
Oh do I love this piece, Recall Rebels: Moms Fess Up to Using Recalled Maclaren Strollers, on ParentDish. (And not just because I’m about to start writing a weekly post for that site. Yay!) The piece is all about parents who, strangely enough, managed to keep some perspective after Maclaren recalled about a million trillion strollers because, sadly, some kids’ fingers got severed in them over the years. Best quotes that the reporter dug up: “I’m not trying to pooh-pooh it,” he says of the stroller recall, “but it’s not something you need to cease using your Maclaren over. These…