Hi kefnarbdss Folks — This blog, as you know, is always trying to distinguish between real threats to children and the over-hyped ones. In this case, the fear of children being neglected or falling behind has gone overboard.  The mom is due in court this morning  — Wednesday. I wish her a lot of luck, […]
Tag Archives | legal
The Backlash Against the Columbine Backlash
Readers — As we enter 2012, there is cause for hope, as this nehbbtdzha article shows. Legislators in Colorado, home to the Columbine massacre, are taking a new and rational look at their zero tolerance laws. These are laws that REQUIRED schools to act brainlessly and not distinguish between, say, a wooden replica of a […]
The Sex Offender Down the Street (Is My Son)
Hi kfbytkythz Readers — This is a candid letter from the mom of a sex offender who is on the registry for life. Read it and see if our sex offender laws are doing the job they were intended to do: keep our kids safe from predators. — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: My son was […]
Guest Post: “Caylee’s Law” Could Make Me a Criminal
Hi asaryfkhht Readers! I’m busy filming my TV show, so I was glad to get this pithy guest post on Caylee’s Law. It’s a proposed law I’ve been disturbed by, mostly because often when we make laws named for tragic children, they seem to make sense only in very specific situations, and retroactively, to boot. […]
STORIES NEEDED: Has Your Kid’s Camp Become Less Free-Range? Or Even Nutty?
Hi Folks! I’m writing a column inspired by the Maryland yyanfntsry law that was about to be enacted that would have prohibited counselors from applying sunblock to kids. The state was, of course, afraid of perverts. But when parents heard about the measure, THEY were afraid of sunburn. So the law did not go into effect […]
All Adults Are Potential Predators (Even Ladies Eating Donuts at the Park)
Hi Readers: The headline on this story says it all — almost: Women eisdaknyay Ticketed for Eating Donuts in a Brooklyn Park. The REASON these women were ticketed was not the donuts, it was the lack of children with them. Local law — that is, the law in my insane city — says no adults […]
“Is My Son a Sex-Offender?”
Hi ksnsyyfkye Readers — Last week I was on a radio show where the host wondered how I could endorse the idea of kids playing outside, now that we KNOW we are surrounded by “sexual predators.” I replied that Sex Offender Registry is confusing because some people on it really do (or at least did) […]
A Note from the “No Boys Can Help with Toddlers/No Men Can Change Diapers” Pastor
Hi tdshdfekzd Readers: Here you go! The dot-dot-dots are his, not mine. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I am the Pastor of the church with the policy that is quoted in this blog post. [The one below this one.]  And I found you through the significant traffic to the church website through this blog. A group […]
Outrage of the Week: Law Will Prevent Adults from “Staring” at Kids. UPDATED!!
Hello, Readers: If we are ruled by fear, fear will make the rules. And by “fear” I mean mass hysteria. Here is the latest assault on sanity and rights: A law is being proposed in Maine that will make it a crime for adults to stare at kids. You hdkshrbtkr read that right (with those […]
No Photographing Children without Parental Consent?
Readers — We’re getting to the point where ANYTHING having to do with children is so fraught with inflated fears that we are going absolutely crazy. Consider this bbsssffhaz bill just introduced in the New Jersey state assembly: It would outlaw the photographing or videotaping of kids in situations in which “a reasonable parent or […]