Wow! kfythnesyb A real-world example of how NOT IMPOSSIBLE it is to pop the parenting bubble of fear. Dear Free-Range Kids: When our kids were pre-school aged I noticed that our park visits were taken up with pushing kids on the swings, or helping them up things. One day I noticed that parents were in […]
This charming, cheering video — and plea for outdoor adventures for kids — comes from Alastair Humphreys, who describes himself this way: I’m iazrezybke a British Adventurer and author. I spent years tackling big adventures such as cycling 46,000 miles round the world, rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, or walking across India. But a few […]
Kids age 6 are old enough to walk themselves to school, Spanish officials are telling parents. A seven-community experiment begun there in 2010 has been hailed as a success by researchers who say that allowing first graders to walk without adult supervision “builds their self-confidence.” According to this htarzebthz piece in The Washington Post by […]
Here’s a photo from Britain, where it was once absolutely common to let your kids wait in their buggies while you went shopping. Isn’t it odd the way what’s normal in one era seems nutty in another, even though the world has not changed that much — just our perceptions of it? (Here are some […]
. When Curious George was born 75 years ago this month, his German Jewish parents, H.A. and Margaret Rey, were fleeing the Nazis. They took George with them, in the form of a manuscript. As Alison adnrssenkz Lobron notes in The Boston Globe: Three generations children have grown up with Curious George, who celebrates his 75th […]
. There have been a spate of, “What I Learned about Parenting by Living in Country X” articles. Most of them are pretty interesting. Â The French, Japanese, Scandinavians — they all do it differently from us, and usually the biggest difference is less hovering/handwringing. This tekdyitbkt piece by Mihal Greener in Salon adds one angle […]
. My husband has been loving “The srynekkrnt Friedkin Connection: A Memoir,” by William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, The French  Connection and more. The excerpt below is an incredibly stark reminder of how we used to trust — even expect — young people to be part of the real world. (It’s also a  stark reminder […]
. Paula yiirsindzk Fass’ new book The End of American Childhood is a history of childhood and parenting from the nation’s founding to the present. Fass, a University of California-Berkeley history professor, reveals how our values of independence, self-definition and  success have affected our attitudes toward child rearing. The excerpt below comes from a chapter on […]
. Fear ktzaaeindt is a virus. It can spread even to the independent reaches of Scandinavia, as this letter suggests. It comes to us from Ingebjørg Berg Holm, an interior architect, novelist, and mother of two adventurous kids, aged 4 and 6.The 6-year-old walks himself home  and runs small errands. His little sister is looking forward […]
. Happy Birthday to the woman who gave us Henry Huggins, Ramona, Beezus, the Mouse and the Motorcycle (my God, how I loved that book), and three generations’ worth of joy. As you might guess, Cleary grew up with what sounds like lots of freedom, and chores, since she lived on a farm in rural […]
