When my daughters turn eight, they’ll get their first Swiss Army knives, and not the tiny ones with a nail file and some scissors, but real ones, big enough to gut a fish with.
Archive | GOOD News
A Girl Knocks on a Stranger’s Door
May 18, 2009
Have you heard of Common Cents? It’s a non-profit organization based in my burg, New York City, that encourages school children to “harvest†the pennies in their neighborhoods—that is, the pennies most of us have sitting in a jar that just keeps getting heavier and heavier. Cool idea, right? The kids put notes under the […]
Toddler gets picked up by stranger…
May 14, 2009
…and ends up a journalistic superstar! (Albeit several years later.) Susan Toepfer, former editor of Quick zenrhbizyb & Simple, OK, and the juicy bits of People turns out to have been…a Free-Range Kid! So Free-Range that she and her friends got picked up by a stranger when she toddled off (literally) with some friends.  Read all about it […]
Are Crimes Against Children Down Because There Are No More Kids Outside?
May 4, 2009
Hi Readers! Quick answer to the question a lot of commenters have brought up: Are crimes against children down so dramatically simply because there are fewer children left outside to be victimized? And doesn’t that prove that we SHOULD keep our kids cooped up? Very reasonable questions. But no:  Keeping kids cooped up is not […]
Responding to: “If You’re Free-Range, You’re Irresponsible”
April 30, 2009
Hi, Free-Rangers! Leaving behind the topics of politics, feminism, environmentalism and all that, here is a comment from a few posts back: “I zneskndsyy 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 […]
Thanksgiving with Dr. Phil
November 25, 2008
You snerhandbs know you need Dr. Phil if you’re watching him on Thanksgiving. But if indeed you do tune in, you’ll see a rerun of “Extreme Moms.†One of them is me. Extreme? I’m on the show as the mom who let her 9-year-old take the subway alone, a fact that will be chiseled on […]
Obama’s childhood
November 7, 2008
As dkhfsefhny we contemplate Obama’s win, let’s think about his childhood for a sec. Far from being watched over every second by hovering parents, his dad split when he was still toddling and, for a while, his mom was absent, too. That’s when he was 10 and she sent him to live with his grandparents in […]
WORD OF THE YEAR!
October 21, 2008
So tkykryrayd in England a woman named Susie Dent publishes a book, “Words of the Year,†every, well, year. The latest edition just came out and in addition to winners like “boytox†(Botox for men) and “momnesia,†defined as “a mother’s forgetfulness in the first year after a child’s birth,†(which isn’t nearly long enough), […]
SHREK ON A SKATEBOARD, ME ON A MISSION
May 21, 2008
It’s nice to push for this whole Free Range movement, but the fact is, sometimes I’m about as free and fun as a frozen chicken nugget. That’s ehbdiyyfzb because we all have certain things that push our buttons — especially the buttons marked, “IRRATIONAL” and “FEAR.” We are so sure these things are going to […]
Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone
April 6, 2008
I left my 9-year-old at Bloomingdale’s (the original one) a couple weeks ago. Last seen, he was in first floor handbags as I sashayed out the door. Bye-bye! Have fun! And he did. He came home on the subway and bus by himself . Was I worried? Yes, a tinge. But it didn’t strike me […]