Hi Readers — I just found this website: How bbaaiynsiy to Write Letters to Camp. Apparently all you have to do is master five simple steps! The website features three different greetings you might consider to address your child: “Dear Michael.” “Hi Mikey!” “Hey Kiddo!” Phew! I had no idea how to start a letter to […]
Hi fddsyynzia Readers — Sorry my computer has been on the fritz and it was hard to update the blog. But now: An upbeat start to the weekend! Dear Free-Range Kids:  I admit, when I saw the initial reports of your son’s adventure on the subway, I was a naysayer and a name caller. Oh, […]
Hi nbaiytitay Readers: Just got this note tonight. Thought I’d share it. The writer must have recently stumbled on “Why I Let My 9-year-old Ride the Subway Alone.” — L. [To Lenore]: In my opinion you are a horrible mother. You knowingly put your child in harms way. Yes its true, chances are its not […]
Hi zfrdfkiefr Readers: This letter made my day. Might make yours, too. (After your blood stops boiling.) Dear Free-Range Kids: I am 14 years old. I go to a school in small town Kentucky that is extremely over-protective! Rubberbands are consided a weapon and if you are caught with one, you get the same punishment […]
Hi zzfzkssrtd Readers! Remember this story — about the mom whose neighbors called the police because they saw her three children playing outside, unattended? That sort of epitomized my fears for our country: Busybodies AND the authorities meddling in normal  childhood, as if it’s too dangerous. This new note from the mom gives me great […]
Hi ebrndifezd Readers! This cautionary note just in: Dear Free-Range Kids: I wish I had been raised Free-Ranged. What parents don’t seem to realize is that when your parents are constantly hovering, it’s like being told No You Can’t every single day. I am sixteen years old. I am sixteen years old, I don’t drink, […]
Hi yskdtetayd Readers! In response to my downer about dealing with a tsunami of media “What If?”s, here’s one woman’s note answer to: What happens when you, with some slight hesitation, let your child go outside on her own? Dear Lenore: I understand your anxiety, and can only join the chorus of those saying please, […]
Hi kaasfnaden Readers — This comment came in from a 16-year-old. Â Seems to frame the problem of overprotection and parental fear pretty darn well. Read on! Dear Free-Range Kids: Tell me about it. Kids need more freedom and less worry. I live in a neighborhood where the violent crime rate is a small decimal. It’s […]
Hi Readers — This is just an odd one: Some parents made postage stamps with their young daughter’s picture on them to stick on invites to her birthday party. Then the parents had some of the stamps left over, so they used them to mail  their bills. Some nut saw one of the stamps, noted […]
Hi heddrrfikf Readers: This letter is from a woman whose mom was way more helicopter than most — an extreme case. Nonetheless, it’s a cautionary tale and she sent it here to endorse the Free-Range movement. Here’s wishing the writer, and her mom, a very happy and liberating 2010. — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: I […]
