Hi Readers — What’s Christmas without a little overkill, this time at the hands of the U.S. Postal Service? It is acting to keep our children “safe” — and joyless! That’s the true spirit of the season, the way things are going. The Post Office is afraid of sex offenders responding to childrens’ letters to Santa — admittedly a concern, but compared to having volunteers answer mountains of letters from needy children? As they have for decades? And what are the chances a Santa letter to a child along with some toys would wind up a horrible tragedy? To me…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers! Here’s an advice column that had me reaching for the scotch. And I don’t even drink: Dear Amy: My husband and I adore our grandson, who is a toddler. We watch him at our house overnight two times a month while his parents attend art classes. Now that he is getting older, my daughter would like to start leaving him for longer stays — the most recent request is three nights/five days so they can attend a class out of state. When our grandson was born, his parents created a list of rules regarding his care. I understood…
Hi Readers — Wow. This is my dream article, and (perhaps) not just because it is high on Free-Range Kids! Check it out! Yay, Time! And please allow me to quote a part I find particularly salient: Obsessing about kids’ safety and success became the norm, a kind of orthodoxy took hold, and heaven help the heretics — the ones who were brave enough to let their kids venture outside without Secret Service protection. Just ask Lenore Skenazy, who to this day, when you Google “America’s Worst Mom,” fills the first few pages of results — all because one day…
Hi Free-Rangers! You’ll like this one. And greetings from Boston where I’ve come to give a talk and also meet with the so-called “Sandwich Moms”! (A lovely group of moms from Sandwich who believe in Free-Ranging. Always nice to meet fellow believers!) — Lenore
Hi Folks! Remember the case of Lia Grippo, the California mom who runs a day care center with a focus on nature? Her plight constituted our first Outrage of the Week. She let three of the kids in her care — two of them her own — climb a cliff while on a field trip to the beach. (The cliff was not above the water.) Though her kids had climbed this cliff before (as have kids since time immemorial — climbing used to be a normal part of childhood), onlookers freaked out and called the cops. Child Protective Services was…
That’s what’s happening in England, folks: A new proposal to have safety experts go into families’ homes to make sure they’re utterly safe, right down the stair guards. Woe to the family that babyproofs in a manner not approved by the state! Here’s the Times OnLine article about the new guidelines, and here’s a comment someone posted that I especially enjoyed: [The article said that] “About 100,000 children are admitted to hospital each year for home injuries at a cost of £146m.” I’m delighted to hear that. It indicates that at least 100,000 of the next generation will still be…
Hi Folks! When not busy blogging here (and lecturing, and writing non-blogs), I run a humor contest in the magazine The Week. My question is usually a wacky twist on something in the news and last week I was fed up with that pre-school TV show in England that had tinkered with the ending of Humpty Dumpty. Remember? Worried, I think, that their little viewers could not handle the shock and horror of Humpty’s actual fate, the show changed the ending to, “All the kings horses and all the kings men/Made Humpty happy again.” So my Week contest asked readers…
Dear Readers — Take your chill pill FIRST. Then read on: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’d like to tell you about a recent experience of mine and would love to get your feedback. I am a mother of three children and a preschool teacher at a small, private preschool in my town. About two weeks ago, my class of four-year-olds was marching in from the playground. We routinely do this about five minutes before dismissal time. The line leader on this particular day was a very bright, outgoing girl. Unfortunately, I did not notice that, upon re-entering the…
Hi Readers! I’m writing this at 10 p.m., when my younger son is finally going to bed after (not quite) finishing his 6th grade homework. I am so sickened by the fact the school day extends ad infinitum — and basically ate up all of yesterday, too, a beautiful fall Sunday. Grrrr. Anyway, here’s a girl who put the whole issue into a letter that proves: 1 – Too much homework deadens the soul. And, 2 – She is already so articulate she could drop out of school and still run for Congress. (Or from Congress, she’s that smart.) Here’s…
Hi Readers — As disturbing as this story is, I love reader Tracey Rollison’s take on it. Voila: Dear Free-Range Kids: I thought you might find this interesting: http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/marion_county/Toddler-found-wandering-on-west-side . A year-old child was found wandering around Saturday night near some corner stores. This is in a rather rough area near downtown Indianapolis. Strangers took care of her until police arrived and took her into foster care. A full day passed before her family came forward to identify her (link to second story is on the page above). This area is what most suburbanites would call a slum. It’s really…