Hey Readers — Here’s an 8-minute CBC (Canada’s public radio) interview hzdhthbrbe with a mom who let her boys play in the local park and got the cops called on her. What I absolutely love about her is the fact she sounds like us! She just wants the kids to have some free time to […]
Tag Archives | fear
Feeling Safer? Some Maryland Schools Say Parents Can Only Push Own Kids on Swings
Readers — I’m not going to make this a long post, because the craziness is pretty obvious and I think there will be an uproar against it. Suffice to say some Maryland ykzhyhahre schools have outlawed (at least for the moment) hugs, homemade cupcakes and parent volunteers pushing any child other than their own on the […]
Most Scathing Student Body President Letter Ever
Hi ndbnddnyen Readers! This letter is a gauntlet thrown down by the student body president in Chappaqua, N.Y., a suburb so lovely it’s where the Clintons moved after the White House. (And apparently they have loved it!) I wish the letter had a few more details and of course, I do not know the administration’s […]
I Let My 7-y.o. Sit on Our Stoop, Unsupervised. My Husband Said, “That’s Bad Parenting!”
Readers zhbhbezfaa — I was just on a radio show talking about  how we reflexively inflate the dangers facing children, and while I was on, this email came to Free-Range Kids. It  illustrates what I spend most of my waking hours dealing with: The belief that our kids are in constant danger, so only constant […]
Seattle Schools on Lockdown Because a Thief is in the Neighborhood
Readers fbbnzebtea — Just another note from the frontlines of our freaking-out country! Got this yesterday: Â . Dear Free-Range Kids: I found this story, currently going on in my greater neighborhood as I type this, incredibly alarmist. A little background: I live in a nice, average neighborhood in Seattle. We have a neighborhood blog […]
Now More Parents are Driving their Kids to School in Holland, Too
Hi Readers — Fear is a virus. It spreads from country to country, infecting age-old traditions. The latest evidence of this is the fact that more and more parents in the Netherlands are driving their kids to school. The result? Or, rather, results? 1 -Â More traffic. 2 – Kids less adept at riding their bikes. […]
OUR SCHOOLS ARE SAFE ENOUGH: A Movement to Stop Overreacting to Sandy Hook
Readers — This morning we launch a sweeping movement to embolden parents across the country to say, “Enough!” when it comes to adding excessive and expensive  layers of security (often faehisedfr just security theater) at their children’s schools. Across the country, schools are locking doors that weren’t locked before, even though, at Sandy Hook, the […]
Guest Post: Danger Sells
Hi rsiknrbzsn Folks — Here’s a little essay reminding us that the push to sell ever more things dovetails with the push for us to fear ever more  new things. It comes to us from Kassandra  Brown, who says she “supports women in transition and conscious parenting.” – L Danger Sells The biggest backlash to […]
Here We Go Again — Another “Worst-First Thinking” App
Hi ihhhkfhbfz Folks — As I wrote to the publicist who sent me this pitch: ” How does knowing my kid is out on a field in the middle of a tornado give me ‘piece’ of mind?” Here’s what she had sent me: . Dear Lenore: Before leaving for work this morning, you recall hearing […]
Science Teachers Weep! School Evacuated for “Chemical Spill”
Hi hitheeaetn Folks! This note was posted by a high school student commenting on the story of the school that allowed two students to fry Ferrari red because they weren’t carrying a doctor’s prescription for non-prescription sunblock. Â But maybe that school loses to this one, in the sticklers department. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: […]