This cascade of emails between a Free-Range dad and his more helicopter ex-wife is difficult to read. But over the years, many readers have written to me about the same kind of issue, so perhaps there’s some comfort in realizing this is not uncommon. I have changed the names. . Dear Free-Range Kids: I am a divorced father of 4 children (all adopted) 13, 12, 10 and 8. My oldest is Sam, seventh grader in a small Midwestern town. Fairly active kid running cross country and track, singing in the show choir, Pokemon club, has his own…
Author: lskenazy
A note for anyone traveling with kids or around any kids who are traveling! Dear Free-Range Kids: Had the usual shenanigans travelling with the kids yesterday. After 45 minutes waiting for our luggage in a hot, busy baggage hall the kids were bouncing off the walls. I was desperately trying to keep them entertained and not annoying other people. An elderly lady beckoned me over to where she was sitting to say “my son used to be a little monkey and he’s an orthopaedic surgeon now, so there’s hope!” Nothing like a little adult solidarity in these situations 😉 –…
After a bus full of middle schoolers in Raytown, Missouri, drove past a person dead from suicide about 50 feet away, the principal did what principals feel they must do in the wake of anything. She sent a letter home. . Among the suggestions to parents, regarding their kids: “Provide positive, non-violent activities to help them cope.” As if: 1 – The kids couldn’t otherwise cope. 2 – Parents were about to suggest some evil, violent activities to help them cope. 3 – Parents need pointless pablum from public officials about how to raise their children. The letter also warns…
Just a thought about a cultural artifact: Dear Free-Range Kids: As I walked my dog this evening, I saw that my neighbors had placed an old refrigerator on their lawn with a “free” sign attached to it. At first I thought, “Those doors need to be removed!” or “Those doors need to be chained shut!” I grew up in the 1970s and have clear memories of being told stories of kids climbing into broken refrigerators and not being able to get out — only to later be found dead inside. But then I realized this is 2017 and…
This piece comes to us from Sandy Rozek, communications director with the National Association for Rational Sex Offender Laws. One of Sandy’s primary concerns is implementing effective measures that will aid in reducing the sexual abuse of children. She is especially disturbed when children are threatened with and harmed by the registry, something that purports to help protect them. Reckless threat of registration brings death to son, family By Sandy “They scared him to death.” When Maureen Walgren of Naperville, Illinois, said this, referring to the conversation that school officials and law enforcement had with her 16-year-old honor student son…
Remember, folks, what SEEMS like just a normal amount of supervision now — that is, constant — was not normal until very recently, as this clip from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, reminds us. Elliott, a “boy of 9 or 10,” stays home from school alone for a day. And his sister Gertie, 5, stays home for a short stint while her mom runs an errand. Oh, and moms put MERCURY THERMOMETERS in their kids’ MOUTHS and no one called social services! . .
Passing along this wisdom: I was raped by a classmate when I was 15. There is nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. Obviously by age 15 I was going off places by myself or with friends, as 15-year-olds are supposed to do. And while I believe homeschooling is a valid educational choice, it would be silly to homeschool just to protect your kid from other kids. . You know what would have helped though? Being educated about consent. Learning how to protect myself. Learning when something is serious enough to get an adult involved. . I grew up…
Last night, a mom in Jackson, Miss., let her six-year-old son stay sleeping in the car while she ran into Kroger. While she was inside, it seems that three car thieves stole the vehicle and at some point they ended up shooting the boy, Kingston Frazier, dead. A photo of someone carrying the mom like a rag doll turned my heart to lead. She had fainted with grief. It’s a feeling we all instantly understand, and it may haunt us. I was reading the other day about how empathy, that wonderful human emotion, is also no friend of freedom. Once…
‘Tis the season to celebrate the coming of summer and what was once, the old folks say, a season of free time for kids. Time to ride their bikes, walk to the store, and learn whatever games everyone in the neighborhood was playing, from spit to baseball to Barbie. Without adults. To see how valuable that unstructured, unsupervised time is, read this essay by Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn. But to help bring it back, why not take your kids to your neighborhood park on Saturday at 10 a.m. and leave them there. Or (I know, I know)…
I was scrolling through my Yahoo newsfeed this morning when I suddenly spied this headline: Free Range Parents Are Scapegoats For Parents Scared They Aren’t God. What a fascinating piece on the fact we really want to believe if we only do everything “right” our kids will be safe. The columnist, Cara Valle, begins: “America’s Worst Mom,” as Lenore Skenazy playfully admits to being called, discusses in a recent American Conservative article a pathological paranoia that seems to be gripping American parents. She points to a grossly inflated perception of some dangers our children face. Valle lists some more commonplace…