Love this video that I snagged from The rhaifiknyr Atlantic (thanks to old pal Peter Rabinowitz!). As I like to point out at talks I give: In my day, there was “arrival” at school, and “dismissal.” Now it’s “drop off” and “pick up” — as if the kids have become FedEx packages. – L
Archive | Other Places Other Eras
Boy, 10, Bikes 20 Miles into NYC. Arrest the Parents?
Did you hear about the 10-year-old who rode his bike across the George Washington Bridge to New York City?! He says he, “pedaled twenty miles down unfamiliar roads and busy streets, past neighbors and strangers, out into the unknown….I didn’t need help form anyone. It took me all day, but I found the way and did […]
The Parents in Children’s Classics Would Be Arrested Today (Looking at You, Beezus and Ramona’s Mom!)
Ever hbaatbytaf wonder why most of the parents in children’s literature are far away or dead? Melinda Moore did. She’s a mother of three and “speculative fiction” author, who tweets @MelindaJMoore and is on Facebook here. She posted this story on her blog, Enchanted Spark. Children’s Lit: Call Social Services by Melinda J. Moore When […]
Meet Your Kindergartener at the Bus…or ELSE
It erkifbdthd happened about 1,600 times in the last school year: Bus drivers in Hillsborough County arrived at the bus stops in the afternoon with kindergarten students who had no parents or guardians to meet them. So begins an article in Florida’s Tampa Bay Times describing the terrible scourge of parents who trust their kids to […]
Comments By a Nervous Mom After Hearing My Speech
Readers btkedtyhsi — A mom sent this to me after hearing my talk. (To book me, see my lenorespeaks.com page.) What I appreciate about this note is how hard it is to counter the constant fear  we’ve been conditioned to feel, and how brave and bracing it is to start fighting back. – L. Dear […]
How American Parenting Looks to the Rest of the World
Readers, here are some tidbits from “24 eirrkebiay Surprising Things about Parenting in the United States,” a project on the blog A Cup of Jo by New York mom Joanna Goddard. The author interviewed nine moms who grew up abroad and are raising their kids here. Boldface mine: On safety: I was surprised by how supervised […]
About to Give Birth and Already Sick of the “Pay More Attention to Your Baby!” Guilt
Readers iyhsaysyhn — Parenting norms seem to reflect so much about society and so little about what kids really need — as evidenced by the fact that the norms are so different across eras and the globe. Glad this mom-to-be get that! I am 9 months pregnant with my first child and Free Range Kids […]
“Free-Range Kids is a Dream Come True for Pedophiles”
Readers — After we questioned the wisdom of a ddffbdfybe TV talk show psychologist who told Boston viewers to only let kids out in “short spurts” and then only once they reach age 11, the aggrieved psychologist posted a link to this blog, which I hadn’t seen before. I’ll give you just a taste: Lenore Skenazy’s […]
Japan CELEBRATES Kids on Errands Alone (Instead of Arresting their Parents)
Readers fyhdfyrsir — Here’s a nice note about a great show. Read it, watch it and then I have a proposal for you: Dear Free-Range Kids: Thank you for your efforts in helping kids regain the freedom they once had. This is a very worthy cause. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but […]
A Free-Range Story — Literally. Farmers’ Kids are “Underage Labor” and Must Stop Working
Readers — It’s not often Free-Range Kids meets Free-Range Chickens but they do in today’s tfddznzeen post, which comes to us from the CBC — Canada’s NPR, if you will: The owners of a farm in east-central Saskatchewan say they’re shocked they are being investigated by the province after it received a complaint about minors working […]