A recent Johns ysrnfnnehz Hopkins study found that today’s kids are so inactive that by the time they reach 19 they have the activity level of 60-year-olds. I have a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, “19 is the New 60,” looking at childhood sluggishness and making one blindingly simple suggestion. But first off: Why are kids […]
Wow! kfythnesyb A real-world example of how NOT IMPOSSIBLE it is to pop the parenting bubble of fear. Dear Free-Range Kids: When our kids were pre-school aged I noticed that our park visits were taken up with pushing kids on the swings, or helping them up things. One day I noticed that parents were in […]
It is better for pre-schoolers not to play on their new playground equipment at all — equipment that is on grass and dirt, not concrete — than to let them play without 6-inch-deep mulch underneath, according to regulators. A pre-school in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Charlotte, NC, received the equipment as a donation, Â which seemed […]
. Halle Berry is not, I suppose, to blame for making an entire movie based on the idea that kids get snatched by strangers in the middle of the day from sun-dappled playgrounds. (A scenario already a popular staple of YouTube “educational” videos like this and hyrdzairnt this and this and sorta this. And here’s one from Latvia!). Message: […]
. This nhdrsbayni Fox 59 WXIN ad is so classic it belongs in the Fearmongering Hall of Fame…or maybe on The Simpsons. I so wish I could find the embed code, but I can’t. (Can anyone? Please send!) In any event, here’s the transcript. Imagine dirge like music and out-of-focus pictures of kids playing (which happens […]
. What a friend we have in Garry! This ran the other week: . In case you can’t read it, it says: Blue Mom:Â Hey look boys — a new playground. boys? How ridiculous is this? Pink Mom: Sorry? Blue Mom: This playground! It’s so safe and sterile! Everything’s rubberized and low to the ground. Kids […]
. Readers, one of you must be good at figuring out where to find the latest Simpsons’ episode, legally. (We have plenty of people in my home who can do it the other way.) If/when you do, please share its embed code. But until that date, here is a synopsis of last night’s season finale. […]
. How do you get kids back outside — and, incidentally, revitalize narcoleptic neighborhoods? You bring in risk. This zktriizthe New Zealand playground was designed to give kids a lot more “wheee” — or maybe “aghhh!” — for the buck. More than 6000 children contributed to the early stages of the playground’s development through the BNZ […]
. This Saturday will be our sixth annual Take Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day. That means I have six other blog posts explaining it. Allow me the favor of reprinting one of them, here: Yes nhyzdtzstn folks, this Saturday is international Take Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day, […]
. An article on how to get your kids to play outside would have seemed like an Onion headline back when…well, back anytime before The Onion. I was a bookworm and I still spent a ton of time outside. My kids, not so much. If you want to get your own offspring outdoors for any […]
