Hello, Readers. It is with an actually, physically aching heart that I report to you the death of an 8-year-old Brooklyn boy, Leiby Kletzky, who disappeared from a short, solo walk yesterday and was later found in a dumpster. Here is fsitiafisy the story. I bring it up because it seems to prove that the […]
Archive | Walk to School / Stay Home Alone / Wait in Car
The Highlander Takes the Low Road
Hi Readers! I know these Toyota ads have been running for a while, but I still cannot believe that some ad agency thinks the best way to sell parents on a car is to tell them their kids despise everything they believe in and enjoy — possibly including THEM. And that the best way to […]
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK: Cops Say It’s ILLEGAL for Kids to Play Outside, Unsupervised
Hi eshtifzfzz Folks — Here it is again. The creeping idea that anytime our kids are outside without us they are in DANGER, thus it is CRIME to take our eyes off them. The writer of the note below, from Western Maryland, also pens this blog. Here’s what’s happening out by her: Dear Free-Range Kids: […]
Is a Child “Unaccompanied” if the Parent Is Close By?
Hi fstazezsfz Readers! Here’s a recent letter that makes me hot under the collar (but not hot enough to turn on the A.C.). — L. (who can’t figure out how to get rid of this LINE!!) Dear Free-Range Kids: Well, I did it again: I sent my 4.5-year-old inside the library to walk the 20 […]
What Can Happen if You DO Take Your Kids Out of the Car for Every Errand
Hi nfheyfdbfi Readers! Just yesterday I was being interviewed by a reporter who admitted she had let her kids, ages 5 and 2, wait in the car while she ran into UPS to drop off a package. This took all of a minute or two, but when she told her husband about it, he said, […]
"You're a Horrible Mother" — PART II
Hi aihkbtfrnr Readers! Here’s a follow-up to You’re a Horrible Mother, Part I. Get ready to seethe — and cheer! (And by the way, I am off for a week’s vacation with my family, so the postings may be sparse for the next few days.) — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Almost exactly a year ago […]
Outrage of the Week: Older Siblings Banned from Middle School Pick-Up
Hi efibskhyka Readers! Oh great — more unmitigated fear, and unintended consequences. L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: I recently received an email from my daughter’s middle school that included this gem: High school students are not allowed on C. Middle School property. They are trespassing and will be charged by the police. Please do not […]
Danger! Danger! Juveniles Wandering!
Hi dkiztakhzk Readers — One of you sent this in. We are living in scary times,indeed! From our local police blotter: Petty theft from unlocked vehicle on Coventry Road. A resident reported juveniles wandering the street on Ocean View Avenue. In a lucky find, the owner of a stolen vehicle from Coventry Road found it […]
Beware the Vultures
Readers: tzrfyfasek This is a topic we have visited before, but it continues to grow as an “issue.” Today in my inbox I got this notice from “Safe Kids,” urging people to call 911 whenever they see a kid in a car, and using this tragic story as its rationale — the story of a […]
Letting the Kids Stay Home Alone. For a Week.
Hi yyyybfdhtd Readers! You’ll love this! — L Dear Free-Range Kids:  This isn’t so much a camp story as it is an “independence” story. My son was by nature very timid and could have easily have been crippled by this nature had I allowed it. Instead, I kicked my kids out of the house on […]