One of my sons — I had to swear I wouldn’t tell you which — got 8th place in summer bowling! Out of  how many teams? Well, I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but it was a single digit number. Naturally he got a trophy! P.S. For the record, the […]
Hi ebrndifezd Readers! This cautionary note just in: Dear Free-Range Kids: I wish I had been raised Free-Ranged. What parents don’t seem to realize is that when your parents are constantly hovering, it’s like being told No You Can’t every single day. I am sixteen years old. I am sixteen years old, I don’t drink, […]
Hi dkabyznrny Readers — Here you go. This is from a 25-year-old webmaster who lived n New Hope, PA., when he was 17 and this happened. He later moved to Canada, in part as a result of what this incident revealed to him about America: Dear Free-Range Kids: I actually ran up against zero tolerance […]
Hi rnsehzzyed Folks — Just read this Salon interview with Aaron Kupchik, author of “Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear.” It’s an eye-opening look at the law-and-order mindset at many high schools these days. Â I really loved what Kupchik had to say, especially this comment about the wide-reaching effect of Zero Tolerance […]
From a Washington eizsterabb Post article on the fact that now only 16% of watermelons sold in grocery stores still have those dastardly demons known as “seeds” (as in “seeds of evil,” Â etc.): The sea change is all in the service of convenience. “People don’t eat watermelon out of hand like they used to. They […]
Hi Readers! I’m about to write a column on how kids are getting to school — with a plea for more walking or biking, when possible — and for this I need stories of kids get to school in your neighborhood. For instance, I heard from my friend that her nieces are driven by GOLF […]
Hey kydkethedk Readers! Got this cool letter today from a guy named Mike: Hello Free-Rangers:  Remember that Circuit City commercial in the ’90’s where the young boy buys a Walkman, and goes to Circuit City to get his price match? Here it is:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epP3jETf8Og] There are a number of points that this commercial highlights for me that […]
Hi Readers — As the school year gears up and we are talking about how great it is when kids walk to school, here’s a “real world” note I just got from one guy. Sigh: My ftibssdddi children’s  school has no school buses, and at our first PTA meeting one parent was being praised for […]
Hi Readers! I was reading zedffftzhd this lovely link one of you sent in, Â nodding along with the whole gestalt, and then suddenly found myself quoted. Nice feeling! Here’s the beginning of the piece, which appears in SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle’s web site: How Do We Teach Kids Independence in a Fear-Driven World? by […]
Hi hbeesffbzb Readers ! This just in. Read it and…give your kids some matches! (Yes, yes, properly supervised, of course.) — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I am a high school science teacher, parent, and grandparent and a former cubmaster, and I couldn’t agree with you more! This summer I taught a workshop on building model […]
