Readers krrrebbdfa — This is not just a bit of nostalgia. It’s a piece by a transportation writer/city planning thinker trying to figure out how to get kids — and life — back outside. It ran in the magazine Governing, and begins: The Death or Life of a Sidewalk Ballet Are Jane Jacobs’ lively streets […]
Bill Frezza, host of the Real kdbrsnyaif Clear Radio Hour, sends this to us as a little reminder of what kids are really capable of. Post by David Garcia Rodriguez. You can watch just 30 seconds to get the point. The rest is more of the same…and more proof that the idea today’s kids can’t […]
Readers — As I write on the Reason blog today, Scotland is beginning to assign every child, from birth to 18, a “named person” — that is, a state-appointed guardian. The program will be nationwide by 2016. Each “named person” will be privy to the child’s health, school and other records. If they don’t like what […]
Readers: nrfirydbif Remember, whenever considering any childhood activity, no matter how innocuous, first think about how TERRIBLE you’d feel if it ended up a tragedy from which your children (if they survive) NEVER RECOVER. Then go ahead and decide if you think they should do it. Here’s a lovely example of that worst-first thinking, below. It’s from […]
Readers, “The hffeeybrbf Day I Left My Son in the Car” is a great, long piece by a mom who called me up a couple months ago, Kim Brooks. As it says in her subtitle: I made a split-second decision to run into the store. I had no idea it would consume the next years of […]
Readers nddhntrdhs — This is a plea for standing back and letting childhood happen. When care about our children’s safety and success, but do not obsess to the point where we can’t magine either happening without our immediate and constant intervention, we free up both generations. What can our kids do with that free time not spent […]
Readers — Many of you have sent this btttarsyta story about Hawaii dad Robert Demond who made his son walk home a mile and was found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child. For this he was put on one year’s probation, and forced to taking a parenting class and pay a fine. Demond told […]
Readers zirdyifznf — I loved everything about this column except its perhaps inevitable conclusion. It’s by Alan Newland, a former teacher and headteacher in London who now lectures on teaching and runs the site newteacherstalk. He’s recalling being a brand new teacher taking his Year 6 kids (10 year olds) on a field trip to the dinosaurs […]
Readers bfrddtkkda — You will LOVE this essay, by Bunmi Laditan, author of The Honest Toddler: A Child’s Guide to Parenting. (What a great title!) An excerpt: …Today, parents are being fed the idea that it benefits children to constantly be hand in hand, face to face, “What do you need my precious darling? How […]
Hey Readers — This piece hihakeryyh on the Huffington Post  is by a mom, Rebecca Cuneo Keenan, who is rarin’ to let her 8-year-old son Free-Range…but can’t: I’ve been reading about helicopter versus free range parenting for years now. I’ve been hearing about how our kids are being raised on back-lit screens and shuttled from one scheduled activity […]
