Wow, Readers — The Keller Youth Association’s football league in North Texas has made a decision of staggering proportions: It will no longer give out trophies to kids just for showing up! Its rationale? Trophies become meaningless when “everybody wins.” Moreover, kids get an unrealistic, indulgent idea of life when they seemingly “succeed” with or […]
Archive | Miscellaneous
Terror, The TSA, Rules, Fear, Bureaucrats, Security Theater AND Parenting (No Mean Feat!)
Readers — In response to my mini ytkddnatfe rant yesterday about coach passengers not being allowed to use the lavatories closer to the front of the plane due to “heightened security” concerns, one commenter sent along this item from techdirt: A leaked (ha ha! Bathrooms? Leak?) TSA document stating: “As of mid-2011, terrorist threat groups present […]
Best, Funniest (Which Sort of Means Saddest) Halloween Column I’ve Read So Far
Here sntynfhbyr it is, from Glenn Garvin at The Miami Herald, “Scared Out of Our Wits by Halloween,” detailing how we can make ANYTHING into a danger — candy, costumes, childhood, fun. An equal opportunity for all different factions to fight for the “safety” Â of our children!
Oh Please. “Due to Heightened Security…” Says the Stewardess
So I was flying home from L.A. last week and the flight attendant announced, “Due to heightened security, passengers in coach” — yours truly — were expressly forbidden from going to the bathroom that might be closest to us, and required to march to the back instead. Apparently, if we took a few mincing steps […]
Adults Topple 200,000,000-year-old Rock Formations to Make Park “Safer”
Readers — This brkhakztzh is a story that makes me ill for three reasons: 1 – It involves a fantastic, irreparable piece of nature being destroyed. 2 – It involves Scouts. My sons are Scouts (in New York City, where there is no discrimination on the basis of anything!). They have learned so much about […]
Sex Offenders and Halloween
Hi kbfsttyenh Folks! This piece comes to us from a gal who uses the pseudonym Shelly Stow when she writes about sex offenders at her blog Justice for All, where this post comes from. Shelly is a member of Reform Sex Offender Laws, a group that tries to keep our fears for our kids from corroding […]
The Maddie McCann Story Continues
Readers — The name Maddie McCann may well still resonate for you. She’s the girl who was stolen from her hotel room in Portugal in 2007. Â Her parents were eating in a restaurant nearby. When I give my ieifizkiid talks, I often ask my audiences if they can think of ANY other story they’ve heard […]
Are Drinking Fountains Too Dangerous for Kids? (Surprising Legal Answer!)
Readers — This just in, from jolly old England: Three years ago, a 9-year-old boy horsing around the school playground went to punch his brother, 7, who ducked under the drinking fountain. The older boy, Lewis Pierce, ended up slicing open his thumb on the fountain, and his mom sued the local council (which seems to […]
Boy Who Drew Cartoonish Bomb (at HOME!) Gets Suspended
Readers — I don’t want Free-Range Kids to simply become a forum for the latest Zero Tolerance insanity (tempting though that is), Â so I am posting this errrkerhiy story with a different aim. It’s to talk about how we create regulations and laws. Briefly, a boy with autism — not sure that’s relevant — drew […]
Fake Gunman Enters School — But Kids Don’t Know He’s an “Enrichment” Exercise
Readers — You’re not going to believe this indarhdnss one. Sounds like just one overzealous employee was involved. But the Free-Range point? Kids are NOT in constant danger, so can we please stop dreaming up ever more dramatic ways to “protect” them as if they were? \ \