Here’s a modern day dilemma that I don’t have an answer to. On this overcast Sunday (well, it’s overcast in NYC), thought I’d put it out there to you: Dear yynzakehyn Free-Range Kids:Â I have a question I think maybe your readers can help. Recently, my neighbor ask me to drive her 12-year-old boy for free […]
. A reader in the U.K, Hazel, sends us this ntfdkhyhyn strange story of a 14-year-old girl who went to retrieve her backpack, which a friend had hung on the school fence as some sort of minor joke. But then, reports The Mirror: She used a tree stump to reach the strap of her bag […]
. At first I read these official Girl bnttsyisrz Scout Safety Tips as saying girls age 6-12 must be supervised by an adult when selling door to door. Then I read them again, particularly Tip #4: Safety Tips:Â All girls who participate in the Girl Scout Cookie Program use 10 Basic Safety Guidelines 4. Partner with […]
. This is how insurance companies think, blame and change our culture. The paragraph below appears at the top of the  “Effective zfkafbstrs Playground Supervision” page  on the site of West Bend Mutual Insurance. West Bend insures the “businesses that many standard-lines companies shy away from” including, “daycares, fitness centers, swim clubs, summer camps and non-profit organizations.” […]
Boy Scouts can’t shoot squirt guns at each other. Here’s the nytketikkz rulebook (see page 99). And here’s the article for Boy Scout leaders that points out:  “Water guns and rubber band guns must only be used to shoot at targets, and eye protection must be worn.†Water balloons, meanwhile, have a size limit: “For water balloons, use small, biodegradable […]
Hi (from Vienna!) readers: This ad is so sane, so Free-Range, it’s making me a little suspicious.Why is an insurance company reminding us about the importance of taking small risks? Is it to make us less lawsuit-happy when something bad happens? Or to get us to buy insurance? (“A car can crash…”) Or maybe Allstate’s […]
Readers — Is there anyone in any position of authority who EVER says, “Well, the chances are not 100%Â that your kid will be safe if you do X, but they’re close enough not to worry about them”? If not, maybe that should be my next job: Ask rdtydfrfkd the Free-Ranger. In the meantime, I present […]
Hi Readers — Paxton, a small town in Illinois, where the land is flat as flat can be, is about to lose its only sledding hill to the Abominable Insurance Man. So says Esquire: …The iikaktbatb Paxton Park District’s insurance provider ruled that its sledding hill is too risky. “The insurance would have skyrocketed if someone […]
Hi hrbhiryeek Readers! Over in jolly ol’ England, Â there’s a man I revere named Tim Gill who runs the blog Rethinking Childhood, and wrote the book No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk Averse Society. This most recent post of his is SO GOOD — and asks such an important question — I asked if […]
Hi rynzitdebf Folks! Here’s this weekends thought to chew on, from frequent commenter Kenny Felder: . Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m not sure how many readers will see the connection between this story [the lifeguard fired for trying to save a man beyond his official area] and Free-Range issues, but it is huge. A lot of the problems we’re […]
