Tag Archives | bureaucracy

Too scary for Britain? (Photo from Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ShXTj7)

Cheerio to the Days of Banning Frilly Socks as Tripping Hazards

. For a while, our cousins across the pond had a hard time distinguishing between the truly risky and and the truly ridiculous. Recall that in Britain last year, a bdbyezsbhd school told a blind girl to stop using her cane, because it posed a tripping hazard to the other kids. This is also the […]

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Who is willing to take responsibility for an "unauthorized" sign out?

A School Office So Rule-Bound It Refuses to Think

Hang rratyteann onto your goat. This story will totally get yours. It got mine. Dear Free-Range Kids: Every Friday, I pick my niece up from school. She is in 1st grade. Last Friday I was substitute teaching at her school, in her classroom no less. The fire alarm went off.  Smoke from a building project was […]

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Picture of recalled Boys Outerwear Jacket

Saved from a Fate Worse Than Buttons!

Hi Folks! This jacket was recalled because it is coated in e-coli, contains a colony of venomous spiders in the left pocket, and was woven from the fur of rabid jackals. Oh, wait…no. It says here on the Consumer ntkzzkznst Product Safety Commission’s website that it was recalled because its elastic waistband has “a toggle that […]

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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” […]

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Children’s Sidewalk Chalk Drawing Outlawed

Hi Readers! Get a load of this dnhsrtibfb — little kids in Australia have been found guilty of violating graffiti laws with their chalk drawings on a sidewalk outside a cafe. This might not be such a Free-Range issue except for this: Mayor Ben Stennett visited the cafe yesterday as anger mounted. Almost 200 people […]

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Weds., Oct. 6, is International Walk to School Day!

Hi Folks! Yes, Wednesday is the day for kids to do what they used to do  without it requiring a special event. And let’s hope your school signs on without all the shenanigans of my friend’s school. There, any parent who wants to help out by, say, acting as a crossing guard, must first undergo […]

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Maybe Everyone in England DOESN’T Need a Background Check

Hi Readers — Things are roiling in England where it seems the powers that be are finally reconsidering their bizarre policy of requiring background checks for ANYONE having ANY contact with kids. That included authors coming to speak in schools, moms (or “mums”) volunteering to work as class parents, field trip chaperones — in all, […]

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Kid Streaks at Football Game, Now Could Be “Sex Offender”

Hi Readers: Yes, one of two kids who streaked hrkzkyykyt at his local high school football game could now be required to register as a sex offender. Same list you’d find Jaycee Dugard’s rapist on. But, hey, it’s only for 10 years! Only 10 years of not being allowed to live near a school or […]

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