Hi Readers! Here’s a note I got from a reader and a note SHE got from her mom. The latter may sound very similar to the one in your own inbox. Dear Free-Range Kids: I received the email below from my mother. She is a professional worry-wart. I’m not sure her statistics are correct, any thoughts? (Signed) A Reader Here is what the Reader’s mother wrote: So tonight there were these statistics on TV by Polly Klass’s father, can’t remember his first name but he created a foundation several years ago after his teenage daughter was abducted in CA. These…
Author: lskenazy
Even as our hearts sink with sadness, they go out to the family of Somer Renee Thompson, the 7-year-old whose body was found in a landfill. It is impossible to think of her story without feeling rage and anguish. It’s also a hard time to talk about the fact that her case, as searing as it is, is also exceedingly rare. That’s why it is national and, I hear, international news. That doesn’t make it any easier for her family. And it doesn’t negate the immediate urge to hold our children close. It just reminds us that we are lucky…
What a weird story: A Virginia man making coffee for himself in his own house — naked — has been charged with “exposing” himself because a mom and son passed through his yard on their way to school and saw him through the window. My question: Who’s more traumatized by this event? The mom, the kid or the guy just trying to make breakfast who made the news instead? I vote for #3. — (Signed) Lenore, who realizes this is not entirely a “Free-Range” issue, but also thinks maybe we shouldn’t assume our kids are ruined for life by every…
Hi Folks! This is an amazingly smart piece from, of all places, Cracked magazine. Remember Cracked? Used to be the also-ran to Mad? (And, okay, I used to write for them. A lot. And all my friends thought I was writing for crack, and shook their heads. So now you know.) Anyway, now Cracked seems to actually be fact-based and this piece gives just fantastic insights about the failure of the Sex Offender Registry and Zero Tolerance laws in school. Enjoy! — Lenore
Dear Readers: This arrived today. I think the attitude of this writer happens to be the prevailing one today. Voila: I’m sorry, but I think you parents are naive and negligent to allow your children to walk alone to & from school. Do you people not watch the news or read the papers? Do you honestly not realize the number of children who are abducted while walking unaccompanied? I think some of you just use the “free range” crap as an excuse to sit on your lazy behinds at home instead of getting up off of your non-working…
Hi Readers! Look at this great story about a 3-year-old who felt really sad when she heard not all kids have crayons…and did something about it! I love the psychologist’s quote: If kids are ready to do something and it’s not harmful to them or the world, let ’em do it! — Lenore
Dear Readers: There will be a quiz at the end of this post — a letter just in from a reader. (I actually read it on the subway!) Dear Free-Range Kids: It’s 70 degrees here in sunny Florida, so I opened all my windows and blinds. My 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son came home from school and wanted to play in the front yard on the tree swing. OF COURSE I obliged because it was so beautiful out, how could I say no?!? My 18-month-old cried because brother and sissy were home and she wanted to play. So I…
Dear Readers: Cracked! That’s what the folks are over in Britain where one of the BBC’s kiddie programs (created for children with special needs but a big fave with all the under-fives, apparently), is teaching the kids that Humpty Dumpty did indeed sit on the wall. And he did have a great fall. BUT all the kings horses and all the kings men somehow “Made Humpty happy again.” And not in tasty omelette form! Good God, are we SO AFRAID for our children that we think they will be traumatized by hearing of an egg that broke? Are they going…
Hi Folks — On Friday I wrote a piece based on a blog by a mom who said the TSA took her baby son while frisking her — and him, I guess. I said it sounded like the mom was hysterical and the TSA employees were rude. The TSA then released a video of the incident which certainly makes it look as if the baby was never taken from the mom. It also looks like they did make the mom wait longer than necessary to be re-frisked. In other words: It sort of seems like the mom was hysterical, and…
More bake sale news. This time, a goodbye to all homemade treats at a Long Island school — complete with a farewell cake. Maybe instead of selling cupcakes, kids in afterschool clubs can sell their blood? — Lenore