Hi yztfesedhe Folks! I don’t think this mom is the only one out there with this issue. – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m writing to you in the hope of some Free-Range Kids help.  Help in what way, I don’t know. Some words of wisdom? . You see I’m starting to doubt my free range kids […]
Hi Folks! Just a quickie: The kids in this Michigan story, 12 and 15, walked to the library on their own. When it was time to go, the temperature had fallen and, according to this asryizabed article, “library staff” would not allow them to walk home. So they called their mom to come get them. […]
Hi inybtyassy Folks! Recently a 9-year-old in New Zealand was abducted on his way home from school and found 90 minutes later, abandoned on a bridge. This piece of reporting from the Timaru Herald AND the reactions of everyone in it, including police and principals, remind me there is sanity out there, if only we choose to hang […]
Hi Readers! The post below this one is about a principal who chastised a mom for letting  her 10-year-old daughter take the city bus to school. The daughter loves the bus  and has made “people friends” (as opposed to “school kid friends”) on her daily commute. But the principal, as well as Child Protective Services, […]
Readers bihzfafhay — This letter has me shaking with every unpleasant emotion: Rage, frustration and, sorry to admit this, contempt. It is a perfect snapshot of the way excessive fear for kids coupled with authority can turn parenting into a defensive art, where we must FIGHT for our right to raise kids the way we […]
Hi idfnabsebb Readers! My favorite quote from college was, “Action breaks the cycle.” You can think and think and think, but when you finally TAKE ACTION, things change. Here’s a story of just that, sent to us by Aimée Lafrenière Turner, who Tweets @AimeeLTurner and blogs at The Maine Page Turner. – L.  Dear Free-Range Kids: […]
Hi bitdntkrza Folks — Here’s a nice story from Leslie in Georgia, and a response from her friend that has me shaking my head. Is NOTHING safe enough? NOTHING? Not the most normal, delightful, sane, sweet  slice of childhood, as dangerous as a daisy? To many Americans, the answer is simply nope, nothing IS safe […]
Hi badrrahydf Folks! As you have probably figured out by now, I actually LOVE safety. Helmets, car seats, seat belts — all get a thumbs up from me. But when we start re-defining EVERY activity as high-risk and requiring special safety gear (or when the marketplace tries to convince us it does, so it can […]
Hi rtzienybyt Readers. Have a great weekend. Here’s to letting our kids go out in the neighborhood.- L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Well here in N.J., Halloween, as per governor’s orders, is postponed till Monday and on Halloween itself I told my kids, who took the news with amazing grace. Our friends had lost their homes, […]
Hi Folks! I am at a friend’s apartment, borrowing her internet connection. I live in New York City — Queens — which was hit hard by Sandy, but my neighborhood was not severely affected. I wish everyone could say the same. Anyway, for those  not dodging downed power lines,  it’s a great day for the […]
