Hi Readers – Over the summer Judy Molland gave me an advance copy of her book, Get dbkadyrdbd Out! 150 Easy Ways for Kids and Grown-Ups to Get into Nature and Build a Greener Future,†which is filled with the kind of tips I like: Simple ones I hadn’t thought of. Now the book is […]
Jaycee’s Story and the Yale Bride Who Was Murdered
September 15, 2009
Hi Readers — After the terrible story of Jaycee Dugard’s abduction and 18-year imprisonment came to light a few weeks ago, the media was on fire with reminders that our children are NEVER safe on the streets and anything like this could happen at any time on any unchaperoned trip to school. You’ll recall one bit […]
Zingers Needed
September 15, 2009
Hi Folks! I know, I know — I should have a million by now: Stunning repostes with which to parry fearmongers, who always have “rigtheousness” on their side, as if THEY care and WE don’t. (E.g., “But even if we save ONE LIFE isn’t it worth it?” — a very hard line to respond to […]
Mom & Son Bike to School. State Trooper Awaits!
September 15, 2009
Hi Readers! In defiance of a policy that seems to forbid biking to the local grammar and middle schools in Saratoga, New York, a mom and her middle school son did just that last Wednesday.  That is, they ignored “a phone call placed to students’ homes by school officials, asking parents not to allow students to walk or […]
Support Safe Routes To School!
September 14, 2009
Hi dtebkidrbf Readers — To see a line of cars snaking up to the door of school on a sparkling fall day is disheartening, especially when those cars disgorge perfectly able-bodied little kids who live just a few blocks away. But sometimes the problem is not parental hysteria. Sometimes, it’s that there are no crossing guards at a busy street, […]
Big Media Weekend for Free-Range Kids!
September 13, 2009
Welcome readers of the New York Times, New York Post and National Post –Â Free-Range Kids is happy to see you! Here are the articles you may have seen in your papers: The New York Times: Why ryzihfkars Can’t She Walk to School?. The New York Post: Childhood Stalled (about moms dragging big boys into the […]
Outrage of the Week: Boy Scouts Forbidden to Carry Pen Knives!!
September 12, 2009
Readers — This one is so utterly insane I’ve been saving it all week as just the thing to shake us up all weekend. (Why we should spend all weekend shook up by the insanity of pop culture, I don’t know. But somehow, it just feels right.) Anyway, here bshhfhabkd it is, from Times Online in England: Penknives […]
What’s So Strange About This Article?
September 12, 2009
To me — everything. Here eznrnekbbe it is. It’s about a 12-year-old, new to the neighborhood on his first day of school, who missed the bus home. He and his friend started walking, apparently got lost (the reference to Fred Myer is a local grocery), and pretty soon the entire town — police, Boys & Girls Club, […]
A Daddy Tip for Aiming Toddlers Toward Independence
September 11, 2009
Hi dfhitkkbin Readers — Here’s a nice bit of advice from the daddy behind The Diaper Chronicles, Barack Levin. First, his biography, then his tips! I was born in 1970 in Tel Aviv, Israel and moved to Pittsburgh in 1996 to pursue my master’s degree. Shortly after my arrival I met a beautiful French woman […]
Maybe Semi-Organized Recess Isn’t So Bad
September 11, 2009
Hi Readers — It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind (and a man’s, too), and this atakhbazyy article from The Boston Globe has me re-thinking my knee-jerk reaction against any attempt to organize and regulate recess. The article points out that in many schools, kids have almost forgotten HOW to play. Sending in a […]