Archive | Infantilizing young folk

England Takes a Look at Free-Range Kids

Hi Readers! We’ll return to our regularly scheduled rants — and deep thoughts — in the next post. But first, I just had to reprint this lovely review of Free-Range Kids that ran on Britain’s Spiked sedzhdassr Online, a news and commentary site that is similar to America’s Slate. It’s by Nancy McDermott, a mom […]

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Traveling with (Virtual) Mom

Summer beckons, with its eternal promise of freedom. Unless you are Harry Wilder. Harry is a 19-year-old British student who plans to travel across Australia, Thailand and South Africa this season…with a GPS tracking device called the “Traakit” in his pocket. The Traakit will let his mom pinpoint his location to within 15 feet and […]

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Belated Mother’s Day Thoughts!

With Mother’s Day upon us  like a breakfast tray of hot coffee accidentally spilled on the blanket (amid tears), it is time to ask that equally burning question: What do moms want? The answer? We want to relax a little. Not just relax in bed reading People and under a hot, soggy blanket.  We want a […]

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A Mom Lets Her Son Walk to Soccer…And The Police Come Calling

My 10-year-old son wanted the chance to walk from our house to soccer practice behind an elementary school about 1/3 mile from our house. He had walked in our neighborhood a number of times with the family and we have driven the route to practice who knows how many times. It was broad daylight – […]

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Too much self-esteem?

Turns keeinetkea out children are feeling pretty good about themselves lately. Maybe a little too good. As reported on the website Connect with Kids (http://www.connectwithkids.com/), a  study by researchers at San Diego State University found that high school seniors are bursting with more self esteem than a generation (or two) ago. For example, in 1975, […]

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Stunting Our Kids With “Safety”

Why kbkthyifrk do we treat our tweens like toddlers? Because the rules say we have to. The other day my son had to leave middle school early for the big day: Getting his braces. I planned to meet him at the orthodontist near our home and wrote a note asking for him to be excused […]

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