Hi, Free-Rangers! Leaving behind the topics of politics, feminism, environmentalism and all that, here is a comment from a few posts back: “I work in law enforcement in the child predator unit in a mid-size city. Kids meeting people on the Internet is the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t sound like anyone here has any idea of the extent that perpetrators use new technologies to victimize. I won’t “bore” you with details since you don’t think this stuff can happen to you anyway. No one does. “But it is kind of sad to me to see how proud people…
Author: lskenazy
So I didn’t. I’m simply reprinting this great comment here, to share with all and sundry. There is so much to chew on and a whole lot of insight. Thank you, commenter Lloyd Gray, whoever and wherever you are! (He wrote this under the post about the mom who let her son walk to soccer and got slammed by the police.) “There has been a concurrent rise in concerns about automobile crash survival (read: airbags and SUV’s), and municipal water (bottled water being sold in places where what comes out of the tap is not only safer than…
Hello, Free-Rangers! My book is officially out today and I’m delighted to say the media is taking notice. If you’d like to see some of the upshot, here’s the chat I got to do on the Washington Post parenting blog this morn. And here’s a lovely interview about Free-Range (or not) toddlers on Cafe Mom and a perky podcast from MojoMom.com! Meantime, New Yorkers can hear me tomorrow (Tuesday) on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC at 10:40 a.m. (That’s 820 on your am dial, or online at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/.) And — yikes — I’ll be on The View on FRIDAY…
Hi, Free-Rangers! I wrote that headline as if I’m so used to “live chats.” As if this is something I do all the time. In truth, this is my first and I have no idea what it’ll be like. But if YOU know what I’m getting myself into and would like to join in, here is the URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/04/24/DI2009042402113.html I’ll be on from 11 a.m. – noon, Eastern Standard Time, on Monday. Somehow answering questions. If I figure out the techonology. I do thank the Post’s parenting blogger, Stacey Garfinkle, for this opportunity. I just hope it works. You can…
Here’s what Psychology Today’s Susan Newman has to say on the smothering issue: http://tinyurl.com/dcssf3 And here’s what I have to say: I really don’t believe that kids who are overprotected will all end up crippled with incompetence and fear when they grow up. In a way, that’s too bad, because it would probably be great for my book sales: Raise your kids “Free-Range” or forget it! They’ll be living in your guest room till they’re 60! And they STILL won’t make their beds. But really, the reason I believe in raising kids Free-Range is this: They only get one childhood,…
Yowza. A mom fed up with her bickering daughters, age 10 and 12, ordered them out of the car in the downtown district of an upscale suburb, White Plains, New York. Then she drove off. They were three miles from home. One kid made it home on her own. The other was picked up by a Good Samaritan who found her outside, upset. Now the mom has been arrested. There’s a temporary order of protection against her. And, of course, at least one psychologist has already been found and quoted by the press, warning of the deep and lasting scars…
“….Once upon a time, decades ago, mothers were able to let their elementary-aged children roam free and alone.
“While many, including us, look upon this halcyon time with fondness and a longing for its return, the fact remains that things are different now. The days of Andy Griffith’s Mayberry and “Leave it to Beaver” are gone.”
I like her, too. But this post is about THE Post. The New York Post. I’ve got a column in there today about Free-Range parenting, and here it is. Enjoy! — L.
My kids have never gone to overnight/sleepaway camp, but I really like this blog from a camp out west. The camp director (or someone!) sent it to me thinking the “Top 10 Things I’ve Learned as a Summer Camp Professional that Make Me a Better Parent” entry would be right up my alley. It is. I particularly like part of lesson 8, about how to resolve conflicts: A great technique for getting a kid to talk is to MOVE. Children, especially boys, can have a hard time expressing their feelings if they feel like an adult is standing there, waiting…
So much is made of any time a child goes missing – including those statistics you hear about hundreds of kids disappearing each day – that it is good to remember that 99.999% of the time they pop right back up.