Hi etibetiibs Readers — This just in! A lovely story. Be of good cheer — it’s happening! — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: This happened to me the other day. I was talking to a co-worker about how, as a child, my parents would send me to spend my summers with family in America… alone. I […]
Merry Christmas — And A Present!
Hi Readers! This photo yddskhdbfh montage has been making the rounds. Thought I’d share it, too. I’ve seen it headlined, “Why Boys Need Moms,” and, “Why Boys Need Parents.” (As opposed to the post two below this one: Why Boys Need Lawyers.) Enjoy, but don’t bother to tell us that not all these pix are in good […]
Controversial? Us?
Hi Readers and gollllly. Here I thought we’d cornered the market on commonsense. But according to the megasite Babble — and its wonderful einnrrzbzd list of the 50 top mommy bloggers — Free-Range Kids is the “Most Controversial” parenting blog of 2009. If you visit the Babble list, please feel free to click on the “I […]
If You Don’t Want Your Kid To End Up on a Sex Offender Registry…
….please zkyntfddsh read this amazing letter to the editor that ran in the Eastern Arizona Courier the other day. So glad it was forwarded to me. Voila: Dear Editor: I am writing this because I am tired of seeing young men’s lives destroyed. Young men, there’s a real danger out there you need to be […]
O Octomom, O Octomon (Sing Along!)
‘Tis Christmas Carol parody season. Here’s one of mine, below. For more — including “Text My Cell” to Jingle Bells, and “Frosty the Outsourced Snowman” —  check out ParentDish.com fssastzysf and Creators.com, my two other gigs!  (And I won’t tell you which one has the Tiger Woods Greensleeves song, “Whose Texts Are These?”) — Lenore THE […]
Don’t Meth With Texas
Watch out, kids! Drug dealers are coming to your schoolyard to hook you on Strawberry crystal meth Pop Rocks! That’s the rumor going around Texas that has the PTA there so alarmed that it is warning parents to instruct their kids  not to eat, well, strawberry-flavored meth. Or grape meth. Or peanut butter meth. (Think […]
When Science Becomes So Safe That It’s Boring
Hi Readers! We’ve come a long way since the days when you could buy your kid a chemistry set with radioactive ores. Maybe too long.  When science is no more exciting that watching oil and vinegar separate, we end up with bored kids. That means a few years later we end up with an ignorant population, […]
No Recess Under 32 Degrees? Because Kids Freeze Like Water?
Hi Readers — Got a notice from our school last week: No more recess when it’s freezing outside — 32 degrees Fahrenheit — or when the wind chill takes an above-freezing day and makes it FEEL freezing. Now, as a kid growing up in Chicago, this was my dream policy. (Yes, even as a kid […]
God, No! Help! Get That Thing Away From Us, You Darn Canadians!
Hey up there! What are you trying to do to us Americans? Spread mayhem and terror with Kinder Surprise candy? Sure looks that way to us. For years you’ve been blithely manufacturing chocolate eggs filled with toys as if you’ve never even HEARD the word, “Litigation.” Fortunately, according to this ndyfbibeki news report, this year United […]
When A Kid Doesn’t Come Home When He’s Expected…
Hi refhzbriek Readers! Here’s a little note from a mom of three named Nina: Dear Free-Range Kids: First of all, thank you. I have been increasingly Free Range over the past 4-5 years but I didn’t have a name for it until I found this website. I am glad to know that I am not […]