Here’s a question to crowdsource: Dear Free-Range Kids: My son makes a wonderful Free-Range Kid. His older sister not so much. In Grade 4 she still holds my hand walking to the school bus and is very upset that I have determined that they walk the last two blocks on their own. Daily she begs me to walk all the way. I know that she is capable and competent. If she were to get locked out of the house, she is sufficiently resourceful to handle the situation. But she almost never goes outside without me unless I essentially physically propel…
Author: lskenazy
From my mailbox: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m currently being blasted in my local mom’s group for my questions about the events outlined in the police statement below. Yes, I agree that a 40 year old man asking a 13 year old out for coffee is weird, but are we really calling that luring now? It saddens me to read the comments my fellow moms are making like, “I don’t want any men my daughter doesn’t know talking to her!” Why? We live in a well-off Chicago suburb that is known for being safe. From what I read below, all this…
This powerful piece is reprinted by permission of Rise, an extraordinary magazine written by and about those whose kids have been in the foster care/Child Protective Services system. We have heard so many stories here of parents investigated for letting their kids play outside or wait a few minutes in the car. Suddenly, they had the authorities second-guessing their personal lives. For Piazadora Footman, that kind of intrusion has been a constant. The Fear Stays With Me — Living my life right hasn’t made me feel safe from an investigation October 18, 2016 by Piazadora Footman It seems like…
As we contemplate the family being investigated, the kids being stripped, and the dad doing time in jail, all because of a pre-school child being left to nap in the car for 20 minutes during a Christmas errand, let’s remember it was not always thus. Children were considered hardy. While I don’t advocate leaving them alone for days when they’re young, I do believe that the species is a lot more capable and resilient than we have come to believe. Here, for proof, is a bit of a bio from Wikipedia entry sent in by a reader: …One summer afternoon…
You can probably figure out why an astute reader sent in this column from Patrick Smith’s “Ask the Pilot” blog. It’s titled, “The Silent Anniversary,” and begins: AS NOVEMBER comes to a close, we’ve passed a remarkable milestone. It has now been fifteen years since the last serious crash involving a major U.S. air carrier. On November 12th, 2001, American Airlines flight 587, an Airbus A300 bound for Santo Domingo, went down in the Belle Harbor section of Queens moments after takeoff from JFK airport, killing 260 people (see below for details). Since that day, there has not been a…
You’ll recall that on Saturday, the Cheung family in Valley Stream, Long Island, let their 4-year-old son stay sleeping in the car while they went into a Home Depot to get some Christmas lights. They came out about 20 minutes later to find firefighters had smashed a window to extricate the boy, as if the car had been on fire. Then, despite the fact the kid was fine, they rushed him to the hospital in an ambulance (mom went with him) and threw the dad in jail. Dad was released later that same day. He picked up his son and…
. Is all European parenting like this? Probably not. I hear of helicopter tendencies creeping in. Nor are all American children on leashes. And yet, there IS a cultural difference and this video — so simple, hence so powerful — packs a punch. It seems to be attracting another one million views each day. How I love the clear and sympathetic link it makes between media constantly hyping danger and parents reacting with understandable terror. If anyone is in touch with the guy behind these ATTN: videos — Matthew Segal — let me know. I want to connect! (And not…
Teacher Tom — “Teaching and learning from preschoolers” — is a joy to read, especially in this case, where we find him bravely confronting that modern day terror: A swing. You may recall that Richland and Spokane Washington school districts both phased out their swingsets. As a spokesman for the Richland district explained at the time: “[I]t’s just really a safety issue, swings have been determined to be the most unsafe of all the playground equipment on a playground.” But here’s how Teacher Tom dealt with the “threat.” When our school moved into its current location, it came with a…
A mom, dad and preschooler went to Home Depot in Valley Stream, Long Island, on Saturday to get some Christmas lights. The child ended up in the hospital and the dad ended up in jail. Here’s what happened. . When the family got to the store, their 4-year-old had fallen asleep. As the dad wrote in an email to me, “He looked so comfortable, snoring a little.” So rather than waking him, they cracked open the sun roof, locked the door and headed inside. . They were at the checkout 15 or 20 minutes later (the lights had been hard…
From our friends in England where the collective upper lip is not quite as stiff as it once was, comes tale of a preschooler who was barred from wearing a certain pair of cute pants because of the cartoon monsters on them. Apparently another child had found them too scary. Scarier than a school banning cartoon pants? Here’s the story — and the pants. . .