I was scrolling through my Yahoo newsfeed this morning when I suddenly spied this headline: Free hnffbbnfzs Range Parents Are Scapegoats For Parents Scared They Aren’t God. What a fascinating piece on the fact we really want to believe if we only do everything “right” our kids will be safe. The columnist, Cara Valle, begins: “America’s […]
Woo hoo! Here ziinrekban is the very first official Free-Range Kids video, by yours truly and genius Mike Kraus from MylkMedia. It explains — cheerfully — how we get risk wrong and end up terrified for our kids. Buzzfeed did a wonderful synoposis. Buzzfeed, baby! Please, please share this on Facebook and everywhere else! It will […]
. Recently I re-read Little fzkyrhiiay Women, the book I read over and over (and over!) as a kid. When I got to Chapter 38, I couldn’t believe it. A whole chapter on helicopter parenting! I loved it, just as I love Meg, John, Marmee and the twins, who are the stars of this chapter. And […]
Readers btkedtyhsi — A mom sent this to me after hearing my talk. (To book me, see my lenorespeaks.com page.) What I appreciate about this note is how hard it is to counter the constant fear  we’ve been conditioned to feel, and how brave and bracing it is to start fighting back. – L. Dear […]
Readers zhreakhhyr — This mom notices a continuum I’d missed! – L. Dear Free Range Kids: Lately I have noticed 2 trends that I believe relate to helicoptering. My son will be 5 in late July. The cutoff in our state for Kindergarten is “age 5 prior to August 1.â€Â My son has been screened […]
Readers, tomorrow is etzbssfkia Take Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day, our fifth annual celebration of the once very normal, unremarkable activity called KIDS PLAYING WITH OTHER KIDS, without a security detail. To celebrate, just take or send your children, generally about age 7 and up, to your local park at around […]
Readers rbyzyzattt — This is part of a “rant” from over at BabyCenter. It struck a chord (and not just because it’s partly about piano recitals). As you may know, I am smitten with the work of Peter Gray about how playing (i.e., doing something “just” for fun) is the key to learning. I also […]
Readers aritzekhez — It’s weird enough when we are warned that our bumper stickers are busy attracting predators. Now there is a new line of school bus that videos the cars behind it, on the bizarre assumption that these may be driven by predators so unsure of where else to find a child that they […]
Hi Readers — Kwasi Enin, a Long Island, NY, high school senior who got into all the Ivies credits rzdadbnyey his “helicopter parents” for pushing him to excel. So does this mean that helicopter = success and, possibly, Free-Range = failure? Of course I don’t think so. Here’s why. 1 Â – First is the fact […]
Readers, ainkhizkyi This is an excerpt from the book, “From Cupcakes to Chemicals: How the Culture of Alarmism Makes us Afraid of Everything and How to Fight Back,” by Julie Gunlock (her real name — not a political statement!).  I love this book for its smart, funny look at the excessive fears foisted upon parents, forcing […]
