Hi Readers! You’ve seen some of the facts here before — like the fact no child has EVER been poisoned by a stranger’s candy, as far as university research can tell — but if you need a little Halloween pep talk, here fnnhydezff it is, on Huffington Post. My main point? If you want to see […]
Archive | Other Places Other Eras
The Dame in Spain
October 30, 2009
Hola Readers — I’m just back from Spain, which seems a little more Free-Range than America. (And Canada. And especially England!) One Madrid playground my son Izzy and I visited actually had a see-saw, something you rarely see (saw) in America anymore, thanks to the fear of bump-induced lawsuits. Izzy declared it the most fun […]
School Spirit
October 27, 2009
Hi! The Deputy here! My dad recently told me about a friend of his–this would be the 1940’s–whose mother told him to pick five schools he might want to attend. He chose the five, she told him to give the schools a ring to let them know he was coming for a visit, gave him […]
Not Every Country Bubblewraps Its Kids
October 18, 2009
Hi zshrizbrid Readers — It’s hard to believe, but the rest of the world is not exactly like America except with different condiments at McDonald’s. Here’s a note from far away: Dear Free-Range Kids: We have definitely tried to embrace as much of the Free-Rangeness as possible into our kids’ life. One twist we have is […]
A Little Perspective on Child Safety
October 9, 2009
Hi erbefaytrt Readers — Here’s a letter from a United Nations worker in Italy. Kinda puts our fears for our kids in perspective: Hi Lenore! UNICEF just published their 6th report on what the world is like for children. It is a scary one, but I would like to draw attention to what makes it […]
A Letter That Says It All
October 5, 2009
Hi htifztdsty Readers — I got this note yesterday and so many points resonated for me, I thought I’d share it. I think the writer makes a great point about hindsight — that just because, when looking back, we can see how most ills could have been prevented doesn’t mean that if we only plan hard enough, […]
Hey White House Honchos: Your Country Needs You More than Your Kids!
August 15, 2009
Note bhdkatehrk to White House budget chief Peter Orszag: You are completely, dangerously deluded. Not about the economy! (Or maybe you are — I can’t say.) But you definitely are deluded about your job as a parent. And so are a bunch of your buddies. A recent article in The New York Times, “‘Family Friendly’ […]
When Librarians Meant Business!
August 8, 2009
Just purchased, for 35 cents, a slim German text book last checked out of New York’s DeWitt Clinton High School in Feb. of 1931. (By Aaron Weiss, if you were wondering. It says so on the call slip.) What really got me is the “Law of the State of New York. Education Law – Section […]
England Takes a Look at Free-Range Kids
June 17, 2009
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 […]
Kids are the New ’50s Housewives (Stuck at Home “For Their Own Good”)
May 26, 2009
In the 1940s, women were working in factories, doing all the jobs men did — and earning their own keep. After the war, they were suddenly told: What on earth are you doing here? The outside world is too dangerous for you, you sweet, silly creatures! We’re only saying this for your own good. You […]