Hi Readers! This bekdkybist is so inspirational — Britain’s National Trust has come up with a list of 50 things kids should do before they’re 12. These include take a look inside a tree, watch the sun come up, go sledding, make a mud pie… Many of them sound great, a few sound impossible unless […]
TIME MAGAZINE endorses “TAKE OUR CHILDREN TO THE PARK…AND LEAVE THEM THERE DAY”
Hi Readers! Get a load of this hefykybkde lovely piece by Time Magazine’s Bonnie Rochman! And don’t forget: The holiday is this Saturday! Take your kids (age 7 and up) the local park at around 10 in the morning and hopefully a lot of other kids will be gathering, too. Then leave! Details in that […]
We Interrupt This Blog to Bring You the 1970s
…Via this fantastic commercial. Actually, I’d never heard of the advertiser  before — it’s Halfords, kniktnsrbd which, according to its Twitter feed, is the U.K.’s “leading retailer of automotive, leisure and cycling products.” It also seems to be a leader in supporting Free-Range Kids! (And, okay, nostalgia. But it’s legit!) Let’s hope seeing all the […]
UPDATE ON THE UPDATE!! Post-It Prank Leaves Superintendent Unglued! Now 67 Kids Suspended
Hi Folks! Here’s an yibksiserf update on today’s story about the five seniors suspended from Indiana’s Cascade High School for decorating it, at night, with Post-It Notes. Now a whopping 67 students have been suspended, because they were protesting the suspension of the Cascade Five. As you can hear in the TV report — presented […]
My Vote for Dweebiest Superintendent of the Week
Hi Readers — So here’s haifdaihhf the story: Five high school seniors in Indiana went into their school after hours, when it was officially off-limits, and decorated it with 10,000 Post-It notes. They used the notes to create a big, cheery “2012” on the gym floor, for instance. Â They made bright patterns on the doors, […]
Come Into this Dark Room With Me, Little Girl
Hi yyhhznssnf Folks — Just on a run of “good news” stories. Here’s another! — L (who was something of a rockhound in her youth, too!) Dear Free-Range Kids:Â Re: ‘the stranger” who offered kids donuts… one of the most awesome memories I have is being taken into a dark room by a “stranger” — wait […]
So She Let Her Sons, 5 and 2, Go To the Men’s Room Alone…
Hi iriaibbnbk Readers! This is from a mom named Becky S: Dear Free-Range Kids: When my sons were 5 and 2 my husband went to Iraq for a year with his Reserve unit. My family lived about 400 miles away from our home and I used to take the boys to visit quite regularly. The […]
Bathroom Busybodies: Kindly Concern or Mass Psychosis?
Hi rfekyekbta Readers! You’d think that, after a certain point, I would be inured to cultural confoundedness. (Or  at least know how to write a sentence in English.) But in fact it is still amazing to me how wild the public imagination has become and how eager it is to imagine the most extremely unlikely, […]
Guest Post: Warning! Toddler At Play
Hi eadhdtiria Folks! Here’s a guest essay from Lisa Baker, who’s trying to be a Free-Range Mom to two kids in Atlanta, Georgia. She writes about her parenting adventures at Organic Baby Atlanta. Enjoy! L. Warning: Toddler at Play by Lisa Baker In the Yequana tribes of South America, parents let toddlers wander near open campfires, playing with knives. […]
Happy (Let’s Not Judge) Mother’s Day!
Hi kttnfezrbh Readers! Happy Mother’s Day to moms of all stripes! If you want to read my sentiments about our parenting-as-a-spectator sport, they are here. Now go enjoy some burnt-but-lovingly-made toast! – L