Hi Readers — This made my day! Dear Free-Range Kids: Thought I would share a conversation I overheard today at my daughter’s school. I went to pick up my 6 year old from her after school program and arrived just in time to hear her speaking to a friend and the friend’s mother. I didn’t […]
Tag Archives | keep kids safe
“Children are Unique, Beautiful and Fragile” — Grrrrrrrrrr
Readers — I got this letter yesterday in my email. Why does it make me SO MAD? “Children are Unique, Beautiful and Fragile†begins its CRAVEN plea. I’m losing it! I really feel this is a HORRIBLE thing to say or even IMPLY. I probably sound like I am in FAVOR of child maiming. […]
UPDATE WITH YOUR LOCAL MERRY-GO-ROUND! This Dog Gets to Have More Fun than Your Kids
UPDATE: *********Readers, one of you asked us to start a list of parks that still have merry-go-rounds. Does yours? If so, please tell us where it is!********* Readers, did you grow up with a merry-go-round at the park? And now? Interestingly, I couldn’t find any laws that state merry-go-rounds must go, only reams of regulations […]
Wanda Holland Greene’s Thoughts on Free-Range Kids
Readers: A few weeks ago I spoke at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. It’s an all-girl school, housed in re-purposed mansion and headed by the dynamic Wanda Holland Greene. She and I were so on the same page after my talk (and I overheard her say she’d laughed so hard her “stomach hurt”) that […]
Parents: Please Show This to Your Principals and PTAs
What is so important to show our schools? This USA hdhtbabraf Today article that states, unequivocally, our schools are NOT GETTING LESS SAFE and so they don’t need new security measures (boldface mine): It’d be easy to conclude that school has never been a more dangerous place, but for the USA’s 55 million K-12 students […]
“I would rather scare my child than put flyers up with his picture on it!”
Readers — It’s great to be neighborly and share info. It’s less great when little blips turn into fears turn into anger turn into the quote in the headline, which comes to us from this Facebook exchange, sent in by a reader named Adam Parson (who deleted all the other last names). – L Cathy:Â Just […]
Does More WORRY = More LOVE?
Readers zthazabeab — This is a fantastic essay from Parents, by Kara Corridan, the magazine’s health editor. Read the whole thing here.  – L Worry Doesn’t Equal Love by Kara Corridan Lately I’ve felt as though I’m part of a competition I didn’t enter. It’s called “Who Loves Her Child More?” And I seem to be […]
Mock Abduction Staged (Complete with “Mock Helicopter”)
Readers,  I’m sure that plenty of people think that it is a GREAT idea to stage the mock abduction of a child and then get all the local crime fighters involved. But not me. Staging an event like this makes it seem as if stranger abductions are common, or at least on the increase.  In fact, they […]
Made-Up, Non-Existent, IT-NEVER-HAPPENED Attack Prompts District-Wide School Safety Mandates
Readers kbtbszeisr — Remember, our new motto here is “PERCEPTION IS NOT REALITY.” I coined it out of dismay at the way even made-up threats and freakish fears can prompt real-world changes to life and legislation. Here’s the latest, mind-boggling example. It comes to us from London (Canada) Free Press reporter Kelly Pedro: School Board […]
Adults Topple 200,000,000-year-old Rock Formations to Make Park “Safer”
Readers — This brkhakztzh is a story that makes me ill for three reasons: 1 – It involves a fantastic, irreparable piece of nature being destroyed. 2 – It involves Scouts. My sons are Scouts (in New York City, where there is no discrimination on the basis of anything!). They have learned so much about […]