Readers eytnkefttz — It is time to update the term “Kafka-esque,” which seems to suggest bureaucratic madness belonged to another time and continent. That madness is alive and well, even in Dallas, TX, as you’re about to read. Â This piece comes from a Facebook post by my speaking engagement agent, Judy Safern at Leading Thinkers. […]
Archive | Miscellaneous
What has a 5-point Harness, Side Bars, Shade Screen and DRINK HOLDER?
Hint: The old version of this vehicle used to have a seat, handlebars and three wheels, period. I can’t figure out if I’m more distressed by the safety equipment that seems better designed for the Turbo Drop, or the fact that we don’t seem capable of doing anything for more than two minutes without a […]
Why American Kids Will Not Rule the World
Hi tzhsydibys Readers! Christine Gross-Loh’s articles on HuffPo have been generating a lot of attention — with reason. She’s great! Thanks to her global perspective, she can attest that the worry and hovering so common in America represent a distinct and unusual type of parenting, not just the “instinct” many here feel it is. Meantime, […]
A Kindergartener, A Cap Gun and a Principal. Can You Guess What Comes Next?
Readers, at some point I will stop posting what I have started calling Zero Tolerunce (so it rhymes with dunce!) incidents. But I couldn’t resist ihnrysknis this one, as a Sunday evening sheesh: Â Last week a kindergartener who showed his cowboy-type cap gun to his friend on the school bus was hauled off to the […]
Teaching Kids Fear (And Calling it “Empowerment!”)
Folks eneddrsins — Got this note today and had to share, so it’s not just ME going, “I am so sick of people amping up fear so as to tamp it down with some product or program!” While I haven’t seen or heard of this program, the way the writer describes it, it sounds excessive. […]
A Question for Psychologists (And Anyone Else) About Kidnapping Fear
Readers — I was just responding to a woman who bravely lets her kids play outside even though she is almost consumed by horrible thoughts of the Cleveland kidnappings. For her, it’s personal: She used to live near there. But others feel it, too. So what I’m wondering about, that maybe some psychologists can explain, […]
And Now, 30 Seconds of “South Park” Genius
Thanks very much to the commenter Gary who sihzaendky just sent this video in! (And if anyone can figure out the embed code, so I could put the clip here, instead of the link — please send it along!) – L.
Cleveland Kidnappings as Latest Reason Not to Let Kids Interact with World
Readers — Yesterday, on Google plus, I put a link to my post dnrtrrdzne about the 7th graders who weren’t sure whether to help an 84-year-old who asked them to bring her a  package from her driveway. I said that when we teach kids across-the-board “stranger danger” we aren’t making them safer. We’re stunting any […]
Australian School Bans Swimming Photos. Why? Guess
Folks — The nhnhrdbbsh Manifesto Club in  Britain is just a brilliant group dedicated to many of the same issues as Free-Range Kids. Among them: The way that pedophile panic is making us distrust absolutely every adult around a child. The latest example? This: An Australian primary school has banned parents from taking photos of […]
Teaching Kids Not to Help 84-Year-Old Ladies
Hi Folks! Here’s a bit of advice actual “safety experts” are giving kids — and parents. But first, the backstory. This New yarbbsfksh York Times guest parenting blogger wrote that her 7th grader came home one day and announced he “didn’t do it.” Didn’t do what? He and his friend were walking home from school (points for […]