Hey tbztyyssti readers — Just got this note and I found it revelatory! – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: The ability to get very scared of danger that strikes around us has probably been extremely important throughout evolution. I would say that it is a basic instinct. Having media triggering this for issues that have […]
Dear Readers — Like no doubt most of you, I am horrified and dismayed by the disappearance of Jessica nhnrtbayfd Ridgeway and what may be the recovery of her body. My heart is pounding as I read the stories. And of course, I am reading the reactions to the case, too. Here’s one woman’s essay, […]
Hi betbzbeinh Folks! Just spoke at the Wellesley Mothers Forum — really fun. And now comes this nice note. Hope springs! – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I wanted to share with you my Free-Range moment with my fourth grade students. Â In Ontario, we’re experiencing some political unrest in our schools due to the legislation […]
Hi izdfiinstf Folks! Just another note from the frontiers of where our worst-first thinking is taking us. Now it’s being built into the infrastructure. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: This “child predator hysteria” in America today is getting waaaay out of hand. I recently toured the new YMCA we have here in town and I […]
Hi Readers!  Here’s part of a letter yzfnsdskih to the editor in this week’s New Yorker that I found wonderful. It concerns an article from a few weeks back by Malcolm Gladwell – a long, upsetting piece about Jerry Sandusky and some other child molestors. Gladwell detailed the ways some predators appear to be so kind, caring and […]
Hi nkfzdtthfa Folks! As you may or may not know, I give Free-Range Kids talks all over the place. This coming Tuesday, Oct. 9, Â I will be speaking at the Wellesley Mothers Forum in Wellesley, MA, at 8 p.m. Last week I was in Wyndham, NH, keynoting the New Hampshire Children in Nature Coalition — […]
Hi tdrarrrdkd Readers! We’ve been talking about over-the-top “security” measures lately (including parents required to have background checks to watch their kids on field day, and parents not allowed to hold the door open at day care for other parents), but I do believe this reader’s Sunday school takes the cake (and several slices of […]
Yes, Readers — It’s the day when even hovering parents and litigation-fearing administrators are encouraged to let their kids walk or bike to school! idtrzzikyb Here are the details as I run off to Windham, New Hampshire, where I will be giving a talk tomorrow at the Children in Nature Conference. Â It’s all about what […]
Hi Readers! A month or two ago I was interviewed by the website care.com rbnfiinbda about, of all things, my thoughts on “quitting.” Reading the Q&A over, I decided to post part of it here.  This is an excerpt from a slightly longer piece over at care.com: What is your personal philosophy on quitting? I think […]
Hi areadtyfbd Readers:Â My gosh, Â a stranger entered a San Francisco Bay-area pre-school for less than two minutes and the school tells parents that just “luckily” he did not leave with a screaming toddler under his arm. Because usually that’s what usually happens? That’s why I LOVE the back and forth, below: The school reacted with […]
