Readers — I not only appreciated this letter one of you just sent, I found the Rosetta stone of parental worry in the article she links to! Dear dtihzsybrn Free-Range Kids Do you let your kids have sleepovers? Shame on you! Yes it’s time for the latest movement in overprotective idiocy, the Ban Sleepovers movement! Look: “7 […]
Hi Readers — Seth rfytihanbe Godin, the tech/life/marketing/art guru, was interviewed by Krista Tippett on NPR’s “On Being” show yesterday, and he began by talking about his childhood as a self-described “Free-Range Kid.” (Though I’m not sure he mentally capitalized it.) Anyway, apparently somehow, when he was 14, his dad put him on a boat […]
Hi aiinkyiiiy Readers — Here’s a lovely guest post responding to The New York Times article from last week, “A Best Friend? You Must Be Kidding,” by Hilary Stout. The article was all about “friendship coaches” and teaching our kids the “right” way to be friends. Blecch. Enjoy the counterpoint.  L. Dear Free Range Kids: NJ […]
Hi Readers! Just got this wonderful little clip from The Big Bang Theory (which happens to be my older son’s favorite show. Yes, even Free-Rangers end up watching some TV.) It’s all about what happens when a stranger talks to a kid. Sheldon, the main character, is — as you will soon see — socially […]
The latest victim of parental terror? Sleepovers. According to this AP sfkaekhhft story by Kelli Kennedy, parents are afraid of everything from junk food to “inappropriate” movies, to Internet surfing, to the possibility of their children being drugged and raped. The modern parental thinking method applies: Since a drugging/fondling incident DID happen once, and since it was […]
