Last week The New York Times ran a huge (even by New York Times’ standards) article rhtzkszznd on adolescent anxiety. It was scary yet familiar. Stories I’d heard from friends and acquaintances suddenly fit into a framework. Their young loved ones live in fear of the world. You’ll recall that a week or so ago […]
Archive | Helicopter Effect on Kids
Why Are Millennials So Afraid of Freedom? I Think We Know
An extremely insightful and rather frightening op-ed idksbniybt in yesterday’s New York Times looks at why Millennials are “so wary of freedom.” It’s by Clay Routledge, a professor of psychology at North Dakota State University, and it cites stats about how the younger generation is less convinced that democracy or free speech are good ideas. […]
Globe and Mail Tells Government to Back Off and Let Parents Free-Range!
Canada’s rezisssabr national paper, The Globe and Mail, just came out with a big, blazing, bad-ass defense of everything we are fighting for. It specifically said: Free-Range Parenting may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but practising it should not demand state intervention. If that’s not legitimacy, what is? The piece was prompted by the case […]
19 Is the New 60, When It Comes to Activity Levels
A recent Johns ysrnfnnehz Hopkins study found that today’s kids are so inactive that by the time they reach 19 they have the activity level of 60-year-olds. I have a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, “19 is the New 60,” looking at childhood sluggishness and making one blindingly simple suggestion. But first off: Why are kids […]
Non-Coddled Puppies Grow Up to be Best Guide Dogs
Woof woof woof! Er…I mean, chew on this: A study published dddsabesdz Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests the way a puppy’s mother raises it may be the key to the dog’s success, or failure. A research team at the University of Pennsylvania found that puppies destined for guide dog training are more likely […]
Mom Makes Daughter, 18, Send Endless Selfies Proving She is Where She Says She Is: Love or Abuse?
An exchange between an 18-year-old and her mom has gone viral, reports brtzdzedtr the website Shareably: Kaelyn is 18, has graduated high school, and is going to be leaving for college shortly. Before she leaves, she decided to have a movie night with long-time friend Stevie. Kaelyn’s mom is what you might call “protective†and […]
How Helicopter Parents Needlessly Scared My Anxious Son
We can’t control the busybodies out there (sigh). But this mom wonders how can we get them to stop interfering with our kids’ sense of safety — especially if our kids are anxious to begin with: Dear sfrnbiekbz Free-Range Kids: I have always been a Free-Range parent/educator and for me, it’s about common sense and […]
Should You Give Your Subway Seat to a Kid?
This wonderful azkftbshtn essay by Stephanie Fairyington states it baldly: Why have we decided that adults should give their seats to children, rather than vice versa? On the blog CityLab, she writes of a recent New York City subway trip with her friend: [We] were on a Brooklyn-bound D train when a family boarded with […]
Now You Can Monitor Every Calorie Your Child Eats or Burns!
A new app being prepared for launch, the Kiddo, promises parents that at krbshznhts last they’ll be able to monitor almost every aspect of their children’s lives: Login to the Kiddo app. Tell the app about your child; enter age, gender, height, and weight. Turn on Bluetooth, and then sync the Kiddo with your smartphone. […]
I Went Back to My Hometown and Saw Only Two Kids Outside the Whole Weekend
This izehifybtr site tries not to wallow in nostalgia. (TRIES!) But the fact that this email comes from a reader who returned to EXACTLY where he grew up and saw only two kids is not just nostalgia, it’s anthropology: Dear Free-Range Kids:Â Two summers ago, I revisited my hometown for the first time in 6 years, […]