Readers — When my son was in fifth grade and annoying the teacher one way or another, his punishment was NO RECESS. Do you think that made him more eager to pay attention, stop squirming and buckle down to work for the rest of the day? That’s why I’m thrilled that no less an institution […]
Hi iakbyrifes Readers — Please note that this guest post is not ANTI yoga for kids. Nothin’ wrong with bending and stretching, no matter what age. What IS wrong, says Hara Estroff Marano, editor at large at Psychology Today and author of the inspiring, insightful and all together fabulous book A Nation of Wimps: The […]
First fun of the day: Over at Overlawyered.com, iterdikadh there’s a doormat you will LOVE. Wish I had written these warnings, including, “Do not taunt mat.” Check it out here! – L. Woman teaches bad doormat a lesson
A boy in suburban Washington, D.C., was suspended for the absolutely terrifying crime of making his hand into the shape of a gun — surely something no decent, law-abiding 6-year-old has ever even contemplated before. Clearly the boy had murder on his mind…and in his fiendish fingers. Kudos to the thoughtful administrators at Roscoe Nix […]
Hi Readers! Here’s one I could have — and also could NOT have — predicted: Parents of one of the children who was NOT SHOT DEAD at Sandy Hook obtained a lawyer and were hoping to sue the state for $100 million . According to this nizarrzzht Reuters story: The unidentified client, referred to as […]
Hi Readers! Over at the Huffington Post today you can read about a bunch of 2012 Free-Range Kids FAILS, including the stories of  parents in two different states arrested for letting their kids play outside unsupervised. (Only one did jail time.) Thanks to Lisa Belkin for requesting the round up! Meantime, a few weeks back […]
Just kbyyhftktk how dangerous is the library when it comes to kids? Apparently too dangerous to have any of them under the age of 12 anywhere on the premises unsupervised — even if their parents are just a room away. Or so goes the reasoning at the Boulder, CO, public library, which sent this letter, […]
Hi Readers — I don’t pretend that these szhbfieysf parents are anything other than off-the-charts weird. But they do give a glimpse at the furthest reaches of helicopter-dom,  in that they sent their daughter off to college but continued to drop in on her unannounced — despite the 600 miles that should have separated them — […]
Hi Readers — A few posts back, I khrbhiaidb asked you to send in the changes, if any, your schools were making in the wake of Sandy Hook. This one is the strangest. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I heard from a friend today who went to her first grader’s holiday concert. Not only were […]
Hi Readers! Normally I write about how we should avoid yattzhfabk Worst-First Thinking — thinking up the WORST case scenario FIRST and proceeding as if it’s likely to happen, immediately. But in this case, I was wrong! Look at what happened to this reader’s family just last night! Dear Free-Range Kids:Â There’s a jolly stranger sneaking […]
