A 7-year-old boy in Switzerland was ostensibly  so “pampered” by his “overprotective” parents that he now is being sent to a school that sounds like it is for kids with special needs. I am a little skeptical of this nrrerfyntb story line, for a couple of reasons, the first being that I did an entire […]
Archive | Helicopter Effect on Kids
UPDATE: RUNAWAY, 15, IS BACK AND SEEMS FINE!
UPDATE! ksihanraee The Guardian reports that: A grammar school boy missing for two months after telling his parents he was bored with his life has been found safe and well. Arthur Heeler-Frood, 15, who sparked a nationwide hunt, was apparently making his way home when he was recognised on a train and intercepted by the police…. […]
From Trophy Culture to Campus Microaggressions
Dan hsdarfyhky Shuchman, chairman of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), the group that fights for free speech on campus, has written this Wall Street Journal review of a book by one of my favorite thinkers, Frank Furedi. Furedi wrote “Paranoid Parenting” back in 2002, which was the first book I read about this […]
What Becomes of a Helicoptered Kid?
Helicopter parents get a lot of blame and I don’t want to add to it. I want to end it. For the most part, parents helicopter because society DEMANDS it. There are schools that won’t let kids walk home on their own, and cops who chide parents who let their kids play outside. There are companies […]
Why Do We Think We Can Create the Perfect Kid?
You’ve nkthdsnnaf probably been hearing about a new book that takes aim at “parenting,” pointing out that we don’t “spouse” our spouses, we just love them and live with them. But once parents start TO parent, they often feel they are actually able to control the person their child becomes. (I’m pausing while you ruefully […]
Brand New Fear! “Bounce Houses Too Hot” Says Study
. What happens when polio and smallpox aren’t taking their toll anymore? Well you just have to look a little harder to find an unspeakable menace stalking our kids. As so, reports this zhitzttfek article from Science Daily: Heat safety issues in bounce houses can put children in danger, according to a new University of […]
My Neighbors Spied on My Teen! (And Found Out Something Bad)
. Here’s iibdfinaya an interesting dilemma: Dear Free-Range Kids:  . I live in a neighborhood that is very much a throw-back to the 1970’s, complete with a lot of split level houses and a pool that has a real diving board and a ten-foot diving well. If kids can swim the length of the pool […]
It’s Impossible to be a Parent in Our Hyper-Critical, Hyper-Vigilant, Picky, Panicked Culture
. The title of this Time piece, “Parenting sezsiatyek is Now Officially Impossible,” made me sit up. It’s so true! Â Anything we do as parents can and may be used against us. It’s like living in a totalitarian state — we are not free to raise our kids as we see fit because we are […]
Mom Regrets Giving Her Kids Cell Phones — for Surprising Reason
. This insdiadyre is a great article in the Washington Post by Allison Slater Tate that clearly lays out the real threat of giving our kids a way for us to get in touch with them all the time. It drives parents crazy with worry. Now any time we CAN’T reach them, we worst-first: Why isn’t […]
Cheerio to the Days of Banning Frilly Socks as Tripping Hazards
. For a while, our cousins across the pond had a hard time distinguishing between the truly risky and and the truly ridiculous. Recall that in Britain last year, a bdbyezsbhd school told a blind girl to stop using her cane, because it posed a tripping hazard to the other kids. This is also the […]