. A 7 year old in Westbrook, Maine, was playing at the park within eyesight of her family’s house. Someone called 911 (of course) and police swooped in. They took the girl to the precinct because, as this bzekdfktke WMTW reporter notes, “Mom WASN’T watching.” You mean, mom didn’t devote her afternoon to sitting at the side of the […]
. It’s so strange to me that society doesn’t connect the dots. Especially dots as obvious as these: Dear bnbazidefk Free-Range Kids:  I live in Rockhampton Queensland Australia. Our town is one of the states most obese. Rockhampton has been identified as one of the cities that our states health system recently targeted to pilot a healthy eating, […]
. 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.” […]
. A tiraateink dismaying letter followed by an infuriating news item. Aren’t you glad you got up today? Dear Free-Range Kids:  . My girlfriend and I were strolling through the Western North Carolina Nature Center. There’s a lovely climbing structure for the kids that is supposed to resemble a spider’s web. Though there is the usual soft […]
. The signs at every playground in my city, New York, say this: snbdeezhza “Playground rules prohibit adults except in the company of children.†Apparently, any adult who simply wants to sit on a bench and watch kids play could be a creep, so just ban ’em all. The idea that children and adults […]
. Alexandria, VA: From a country gone crazy with mandemonium (pandemonium sparked by seeing a man near a child) comes this all points bulletin, below. Notice that while “At no time did the unknown man attempt to leave the area with the child,” the police nonetheless give a detailed description of the suspect…er…Samaritan…er…suspect. Â And they […]
. Let’s knryirhbfa hear it for the reporter in this BBC report on the Joey Salads puppy/park/predator video. She takes him to task for pulling the “700 children are abducted a day†factoid out of his fannypack. (Or, worse, randomly off the Internet.) What I do not love is that, of course, many of […]
There’s nothing funny about a tree falling on two kids — both survived — in Massachusetts. But there is something absurd to the point of parody about the erytetsrzn way Good Morning America played it yesterday. First of all, being based in New York City, the show plopped its reporter down in Central Park where, he […]
As we gear up for Take feankiizzr Our Children to the Park…And Let Them Walk Home by Themselves Day, which is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 9, I’m wondering if we could crowd-source a photo documentary. What I’m looking for is photos of playgrounds across the United States (and wherever else you readers […]
For the past five years Free-Range Kids has been sponsoring Take naisraryab Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day. This year, in honor of the Meitivs of Maryland, we are encouraging kids to walk home on their own — if you feel they are ready — too. The way the day works is […]
