Readers — I just got some “helpful” back-to-school tips from a famous sunscreen company. (Hint: Think dog and little girl and bathingsuit.) Not only does that company really want kids to wear — this’ll surprise you — sunscreen when they go out for recess, but it had some other suggestions. Well, two, actually, one of […]
Jaycee Dugard’s Take on Overprotective Parents
Hi tkhhitskhh Folks! I am inspired by what a reader named Allison sent me on Facebook. You may be, too. — L Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m reading Jaycee Dugard’s book “A Stolen Life.“Â and in it, she says: It still scares me, the fact that I can’t protect my daughters from everything. What mother wouldn’t want […]
Don’t You Step on This Blue Swede (or her shoes)
Hi Readers — Forgive the belabored headline. Here’s nnkherhfbn a story one of you alerted us all to in the post below this one:  A Swedish woman left her baby outside a Massachusetts restaurant for 10 minutes while she ordered inside. Someone saw the boy, called the cops and the cops called Department of Child and Family […]
Guest Post: What’s Wrong with This Lemonade Stand?
Hi risnndndeh Folks! Here’s a big chunk of a wonderful essay by my friend and fellow journalist Christopher Moore, published in the New York weekly, Our Town. I guess when life hands you lemonade…write a column: Lemonade Stand-ing Watch by Christopher Moore At least in my Manhattan ’hood, there are a crazy number of kids […]
6 Dumbest Things Schools Do to “Protect Kids”
Hi Readers — This iztehnaiai “Dumbest Things” piece by the folks at Cracked is so perfect, click and enjoy. And remember, back when Cracked used to be the runner-up to Mad, I wrote scads of articles for it. (Just not recently, when it became brilliant social commentary.) Favorite Dumbest Thing schools are doing to “protect” […]
Outrage of the Week: Don’t You DARE Throw This Woman in Jail!
Readers — I am SO SICK of our finger-pointing culture ever-ready to criminalize a normal, if tragic, parenting moment. In hinatzbhak this case, a woman named Felicia Tucker is being charged in the drowning death of her toddler nephew Joshua because he got out of house and she didn’t realize it quickly enough. He drowned […]
First Gripe of the Day: A “Private” Shopping Cart Seat Belt?
Hi Readers — Just had my first cuppa coffee, along with my first “Arghhhh!” (Some people have a donut, I have apoplexy.) Â Here is what inspired my gnashing and thrashing, from the One bzittiedfk Step Ahead folks: The Wrap Strap. A wide, squishy Velcro safety belt you bring along to the grocery store to strap […]
The FBI Says: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid for Your Kids
Hi Readers: Firsts off, thanks to all of you who sent nhhheibsak this in: The very first app the FBI is releasing to the public. It’s the “Child ID App,” allowing you to store your kid’s photo, height and weight in one easy-to-retrieve place, and to forward this info instantaneously to the authorities. It was […]
Quit Trying to be So Safe!
Hi ntyaznaike Readers! This was a comment on the post two below this one, and I was nodding along so much, I decided to give it its own post. It’s by a woman named Nanci, who describes herself as “a Midwest mom of two.” — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: …. Â I really think the bottom […]
Can’t Argue with Success
Hi dbkkzrkikr Readers! First of all, thank you SO MUCH for the fantastic suggestions on how to help parents get over the fear of BLAME, in the post below this one. Â Here’s one response that I wanted to highlight because I hear you: We need success stories here, too. Enjoy this one! L. Dear Free-Range […]