I spend a lot of time trying to convince skeptics that “Free-Range” does not mean, “Send Your Kid Down the Mississippi on A Raft.” So when I present this akseyihstr article, it’s only because it delights me so: The story of a boy who will be in fourth grade next year who got lost in the […]
Help, Daddy! A Grandma Smiled At Me! Will She Kidnap Me?
Hi iheikaikbh Free-Rangers! Just though I’d share this little note I got from Australia this morning. Makes you realize it’s a small world after all: A small, paranoid, danger-halucinating world. This is from a lady named Vivienne: Walking in Ikea.  I am a pleasant-enough, smiley grandmoter of 9. A man with his daughter of about 3 […]
Free-Range Kids Changes A Mom (And Two Childhoods)
Hi dknkiefsdh Readers — This letter, received today, made me cheer. For the mom, for the kids, for the movement! From a mom named Mia: I do very much wish to thank you for writing and sharing this blog.  It is changing my life and that of my children and I suppose you could call me […]
Free-Range Kids Outrage of the Week: “Wear Goggles When Putting Up Posters”
Four teachers in ten said that some field trips had been “toned down or cancelled” because they just weren’t safe enough.
Boys In School: Antsy, Desperate — And Deprived of Recess
This wonderful Huffington adrbnddaaf Post essay by Holly Robinson describes her 6th grade son’s misery in school. It sounds so much like my fifth grade son’s misery, it made me realize that maybe his “school = lethal injection minus the yummy last meal”  attitude  just may be generic. Having been a girl all my life, I didn’t realize boys […]
Wonder of Wonders: Kids Play Outside, Other Kids Join ‘Em
This fiefrabhbb is the kind of letter Free-Range Kids loves to see! It comes from a mom in New Mexico. Voila: You know what I noticed in my neighborhood which really makes me so happy? We’ve been here for 6 years and in the summer, there was one (and I mean that) one kid that […]
England Takes a Look at Free-Range Kids
Hi Readers! We’ll return to our regularly scheduled rants — and deep thoughts — in the next post. But first, I just had to reprint this lovely review of Free-Range Kids that ran on Britain’s Spiked sedzhdassr Online, a news and commentary site that is similar to America’s Slate. It’s by Nancy McDermott, a mom […]
Mom Threatens School For Serving Her Kid A Cupcake
Here’s a wild New rybzetbnba York Times piece about a mom who is fighting mad about her kid’s school sometimes serving  junk food. While the school lunches are nutritious, the mom is livid that some party treats, like cupcakes, are not. Quote the mom: “I thought I was sending my kid to P.S. 9, not Chuck E. Cheese.†Now, not that I […]
Free-Range Kids Outrage of the Week: No Biking to School
This one comes from blogger yryrsittrd Denise Gonzalez-Walker. It’s the rules for getting to school in a district near Seattle. Please note the bolded words: Bicycles Students in grades 4,5 and 6 may ride bikes, roller blades, skateboards and non-motor scooters to school. According to Highline District policy, a protective helmet must be worn when […]
Are Kids Safer Because We Never Let Them Out Anymore?
Hi Readers! After hearing me on zizzkfbryt NPR on Tuesday talking about the fact that the crime rate is lower now than in the 1970s and ’80s when many of us parents were playing outside, a couple of commenters to this blog said: That’s because we’re keeping our kids inside now! They even suggested that […]