Folks, I am hoping this story will soon go national. Local news in Decatur, GA, is following up on it. It comes to us from Kim, a mom to 3 kids, aged 7, 4 1/2, and 3. . Dear Free-Range Kids: This week I had 3 police officers knock on my door. A neighbor saw my 4 1/2 year old playing in the park behind our house that’s an extension of our yard, and reported us to DFCS for neglect, then called the police. . We bought our home for the backyard and access to the park. Our…
Author: lskenazy
Whenever I got an email from Alisha in Arizona, I knew I was in for an outrage — and often a laugh. Most recently she wrote the post, “I Must Get Out of the Car to Pick Up My 8-year-old and I am Disabled.” Though her child was perfectly capable of walking out to the car, the teacher insisted Alisha come fetch her, despite the fact that for Alisha this was a physical ordeal. It was also the same feisty, fed-up, Free-Range Alisha who sent us “What Happens When You Set Off the TSA Groin Alarm” — which the metal…
BREAKTHROUGH! Instead of us Free-Rangers agreeing amongst ourselves that it should be up us to decide what age we want to let our kids walk and play outside unsupervised, now an entire state has gone Free-Range! I realize it will be hard to read the poster here (I’m having trouble myself), but here’s the best of the best advice: Oregon has no legal minimum age requirement for children traveling to school on their own. How can I know when my child is ready to travel to school alone? Think about your unique child — can your child: *Pay attention? *Remember…
I get emails on a weekly basis from moms chided by onlookers for letting their kids do anything by themselves: walk to the corner store, play in the backyard (editing that one now!), climb up the jungle gym without a parent underneath, arms widespread, like a fireman ready to catch a jumper. So this note surprised me: Dear Free-Range Kids: My almost six-year-old kindergartner and I walk to school (about 2 blocks with a crosswalk and crossing guard across a busy street and one quiet neighborhood street to cross just before it). Since the second week of school, my son…
Here’s a modern day dilemma that I don’t have an answer to. On this overcast Sunday (well, it’s overcast in NYC), thought I’d put it out there to you: Dear Free-Range Kids: I have a question I think maybe your readers can help. Recently, my neighbor ask me to drive her 12-year-old boy for free to Sunday school, which is 15 miles away. I do not mind doing so, since I have to drive my son to the same school anyway. But my friend asked me what if my neighbor sues me if a car accident happens? Now I am…
And what is the Free-Range take on clowns, you ask? Yuck. Not yuk-yuk, like funny. Yuck like why would anyone ever find a white-painted face with distorted features amusing, rather than horrifying? But of course the bigger question now is what is going on with our culture’s clown craziness. Clowns are popping up everywhere, leading to strange sightings, warning letters sent home from school and actual arrests. That’s not to mention this weird case — a man in Kentucky shot his gun into the air when he mistook a woman walking her dog for a creepy clown. I’m sure the…
A reader emailed us this Marie Claire article going viral, “Inside the Growing Movement of Women Who Wish They’d Never Had Kids.” She thought that part of the reason these moms are so unhappy could be the overwhelming pressure we put on them. Maybe if no one was shaming (or arresting) moms for not watching their kids literally 24/7, they’d feel less stuck. This is not to say that mothers had it easier in other eras. They’ve always had to do so much. It’s just that today, there’s a level of hypervigilance that can be oppressive. So Sarah Treleaven writes:…
A 14-year-old Iowa girl, “Nancy Doe,” took some racy pictures of herself — one in a sports bra and boy shorts, one bra-less but with her hair covering her breasts — and texted them to a boy. For this, the Marion County prosecutor has threatened to brand her a sex offender. As Robby Soave explains on Reason.com (a site I write for, too): The trouble began last March, when two boys at Knoxville High School were caught using the school printers to print inappropriate photos of their classmates, both male and female, which had been obtained via texts and Snapchat.…
How we live reflects what we think is important, obviously. So here’s a question about the connection between home design and parenting: Dear Free-Range Kids: I am interested if you have noticed the similarities in our society of hyper-vigilant parenting and the “open concept floor plan?” I love watching those Do It Yourself and home remodeling shows. Inevitably, a family will request an open concept floor plan so they can “keep an eye on the kids” while the mom is in the kitchen. . Being the parent of two young children, I’m wondering if these families have not yet discovered…
Here’s a note from a reader who used to design educational toys. But first, let me say that when I went to the Toy Fair here in NYC a few years ago, I was amazed at the way EVERY SINGLE TOY had come up with a way to describe itself as educational. If it was colorful, it was “stimulating the visual cortex.” If it was heavy it “demonstrated gravity.” If it existed at all and you could touch it, it aided in “hand-eye coordination.” And of course, all those things are true. But they are equally true for things that…