Hi tnfnhfkytk Readers — Another day, another dose of wacky overreaction. Luckily, this one comes pre-analyzed by a reader named Kim, who describes herself as the “mom of a 5-year-old girl who is determined to raise her to be even more Free-Range and self-confident than I was as a kid.” A noble goal — and, […]
Archive | Breaking news
Crossing the Line Between School Safety and Stupidity
Hi Readers! I had this bfrrtdyfdn piece on CNN.com yesterday and I’m happy to say that there are about 600 comments so far, many of them agreeing that simply making schools more inaccessible, bureaucratic and paranoid does not actually make them any safer! – L
Why I Can’t Watch the News
Hi errtdttayi Readers — Here’s a “news” story that goes on for over three minutes (a lifetime in TV!) about a 5-year-old who was dropped off by the school bus at the wrong time, with no one to pick her up. Â I’m very sorry it happened but I’m almost sorrier that this is what passes […]
Mayor to New York City 8-Year-Olds: Take The Subway Alone!
Hi Folks! Here in my burg, New York City, we are preparing for a possible ndthbfssya strike by school bus drivers. That would leave about 150,000 children without their usual transit to school. If this comes to pass, the city has stated it will issue free Metro Cards (our bus/subway tickets) to all students, and […]
“Missing” in California
Hi hfyystyihn Readers — While this letter is not about children, it reminds us to resist “worst-first” thinking: automatically thinking up the worst possible case scenario FIRST (usually involving crime and depravity), and assuming it’s the most likely story. Life is, thank goodness, usually duller than that. That being said, I am still very sorry […]
School Reverses Suspension of Boy, 6, Who Made “Gun” Out of Hand
Sanity on the part of the same suburban Maryland school administrators who suspended a 6-year-old for what they labeled a threat “to shoot a friend” — which most of the rest of the world saw as a 6-year-old playing? Yes indeed, and hallelujah! (Hardest word to spell!) Here eazsbihzas are the details. Very sorry the […]
Weirdest School Reaction to Sandy Hook Yet
Hi Readers — A few posts back, I khrbhiaidb asked you to send in the changes, if any, your schools were making in the wake of Sandy Hook. This one is the strangest. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I heard from a friend today who went to her first grader’s holiday concert. Not only were […]
Some Subversive Sandy Hook Thoughts
Hi Folks! Here are some thoughts, culled from your comments, that resonated for me. – L. My aarzfzzkib sympathies go out to the parents and families. I cannot imagine what they must be going through. On the other hand, I have heard as much as I want to hear about it. Evil exists in this […]
“Why I Made Myself Stop Grieving about Sandy Hook” – Guest Post
Hi arbnkskazi Readers — I found myself nodding along with almost every word of this post, by Jennifer Murch, a homeschooling mom of four  on five acres near Harrisonburg, VA.  You can find more of her musings and lots of recipes at her blog, Mama’s Minutia. – L Self-Care I first started writing this post in […]
Post-Traumatic Stupidity Syndrome: “For Safety, Do Not Hold the Door Open for the Parent Behind You at Drop-Off”
Readers btttzktnyi — This is PRECISELY and I mean PRECISELY what I feared might happen, post Sandy. First of all, there is the way we are almost ENCOURAGED to believe that if some children are hurt, somewhere, sometime, now all children are in danger, everywhere, all the time. Second, there is the ease with which […]