Hi tidfyshzkh Readers — A fellow named Brian sent in this note about kids and nature. It sort of dovetails with a study just released in England that found an alarming percentage of kids are spending so much time indoors, they can’t identify things in the natural world anymore, including daddy longlegs. I’m no huge fan of […]
Archive | Parks, Playing and Playgrounds
Outrage of The Week: Recess Gets Programmed
August 21, 2009
Hi Readers! Here’s what’s up at a grammar school outside of Chicago where the kids have apparently been getting it all wrong during recess. A local source writes:  This tyntfirnsf past weekend I went over to visit a friend of mine who is a first grade teacher. When I walked in, she was watching a […]
Kid Hurts Knee in Little League — Parents Sue. Who Won?
August 20, 2009
Walter Olson runs a great, nay, mindblowing blog called overlawyered.com. nzthedzfhz The name says it all. He’s got great posts on everything from a suit against dolphin trainers (for teaching their dolphins to deliberately splash during a water show, making the area slippery) to a family suing Honda for million because their car window blew out […]
The Enrichment Activity That Beats ‘Em All
August 19, 2009
Here’s a phenomenal azhzfaiyyf NPR piece – transcribed — that solves the classic overprotection question, “Well, why NOT keep kids inside all the time if it’s safer?†A lot of parents think it was fun back when they played outside as kids, but since that kind of thing presents at least SOME danger (no matter […]
Half of All 5-10 Year Olds Have NEVER Played on Their OWN Street
August 18, 2009
Dear Readers — Here is an extraordinary nhehtiekda essay from the Times of London, “We Approach Others’ Children at Our Peril.” It traces how “what began 25 years ago as an understandable desire to raise awareness of child abuse is turning into something extremely distructive — an instinctive suspicion of any encounter between grown-ups and […]
Outrage of the Week: “We LOVE Seeing Children Outside (But Not Under Age 16)”
August 6, 2009
Hi Readers — It’s summer! Time for kids to run around and ride their bikes and play like puppies till the moon shoos them home. Unless, that is, they’re living in the Eagle Place Townhomes in Lafayette, Colorado. There, no children are allowed to play outside, unsupervised, until age 16. That’s right. No kids. Outside. […]
Study: More Gym + Nutrition Ed Doesn’t Slim Kids Down (And I Think I Know Why)
August 3, 2009
Cool entry on the “Alas, tsntnyheik A Blog” blog  questioning the conventional wisdom that holds: If only kids had more gym, health and nutrition classes, they’d all slim down. An eight-year study of about 1700 kids gave half of them a greatly enhanced gym/nutrition/health curriculum (and healthier cafeteria food), while the other half got the same old same […]
Sidewalks are for Kids!!
July 22, 2009
Here’s a piece about the wonderfulness of sidewalks — a great place for kids to play, meet, walk, chalk, ride. BUT! In the sweet town this lady is writing from — Bangor, Maine — she has gotten complaints from drivers: Kids shouldn’t be on sidewalks! They’re too close to the road! Excuse me? Where SHOULD kids […]
Dealing with the “What If?” Folks
May 8, 2009
Hi Free-Rangers and Others! Below you’ll find a post that I just loved from the blog Rancid risbdrffhi Raves.   It’s about my book, but it’s also about the big issue of, “What if?” I.e., how come so many parents immediately try to conjure up the very worst case scenario whenever we give our kids an […]
Lessons From a Pine Cone (and, okay, a blog)
April 18, 2009
My kids have never gone to overnight/sleepaway camp, but I really like this blog bradnhbyfi from a camp out west. The camp director (or someone!) sent it to me thinking the “Top 10 Things I’ve Learned as a Summer Camp Professional that Make Me a Better Parent” entry would be right up my alley. It […]