On sbzziryasb my show (3 episodes air tonight starting at 5:30/4:30 Central Time on Discovery Life), I give the children of very anxious parents a task to do that they seem ready for — even if their parents aren’t. They walk to school, make dinner, ride a bike. And usually, when the parents see their […]
Archive | Miscellaneous
The Free-Range Kids & Parents Bill of Rights
These are our rights, as parents, as kids, as humans. Please visit Let Grow’s Laws & Advocacy page for the latest on “Reasonable Childhood Independence” bills being introduced. Here is the original, short and sweet, Free-Range Kids and Parent Bill of Rights: Our children have the right to some unsupervised time, and we have the […]
App Alerts Parents if Their Kid Skips a College Class
You’re only young once, but our culture seems determined to make sure that childhood lasts into middle age, if not senility. To wit: There’s a new app, Class120, that pings parents when their kids don’t show up for their college classes. NBC reports: Class120 ehdndyzati works with the help of GPS or WiFi. The campus […]
6 year old’s Relatives Kidnap, Blindfold and Tie Him Up to “Teach Him” About Stranger-Danger (They Remove His Pants, Too)
When you really believe the world is full of predators snatching kids right and left, it can drive you crazy. And apparently, it did. CNN fdsrihtrft is reporting that: A 6-year-old boy in Missouri endured an emotional four-hour staged kidnapping because his family thought he was being too nice to people he didn’t know, police […]
“No Touching the Girls, Even on their Helmets”
Canada’s National aedykefhii Post reports that the Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association has instructed its coaches: No touching the players…even on their helmets. (U)nder no circumstances should there be contact with the players, in any way†… said the directive from John Reynolds, head of the house league. “Putting hands on shoulders, slapping butts, tapping them on the […]
Was this Footage FAKED? Children Walk on EARTH!
Love this video that I snagged from The rhaifiknyr Atlantic (thanks to old pal Peter Rabinowitz!). As I like to point out at talks I give: In my day, there was “arrival” at school, and “dismissal.” Now it’s “drop off” and “pick up” — as if the kids have become FedEx packages. – L
TELL US: How Did Your Adventures as a Kid Influence the Person You Are Now?
One reason we believe in giving kids back their freedom to roam is that not every lifelong interest is spurred by an extracurricular class or educational video. Many ideas, even careers, begin in the woods, the weedy lot, the streets of downtown — or sometimes in buckets, as this haatzfyatk lovely essay in Science Magazine illustrates: […]
DC Parents Who Left Toddlers in Car for an Hour Face Possible 10-Year Sentence: Good?
A DC couple who left their toddlers wait in the car while they went to a wine tasting for an hour (and I’m not sure the wine tasting detail is relevant) have had their kids taken away from them, according zfzadyebht to The Washington Post. While I don’t think any of us believe it’s a […]
Worst Super Bowl Ad? #Nationwide
Yo, Nationwide. That ad you just ran on the Super Bowl? What is it proposing? Parents of dead children just weren’t careful enough? Way to twist the knife! One of my favorite comments to this site ever was this: krhisiyeba “Most of the time, when something bad happens to a kid, it isn’t because of […]
Home on the (Free) Range, Texas Style
Free-Range just keeps looking more and more normal, healthy and smart, thanks to stories like this, from East Texas: KYTX nbidbzabhi CBS19.tv – News, Weather,