. How dersryiyfd about we all take this pledge:  . “The next time I see a child who seems upset, I will not immediately assume I’m witnessing either an abduction or abuse. If I am  worried, I will watch a little longer, or politely inquire as to what’s going on. I will not dial 911 […]
. Dots on a sex offender map terrify many parents. “Look! There’s one of them in the neighborhood!” Here is a letter from the wife of one of “them.” I would not be afraid for my family to live near him. Dear naydnyzdzf Free Range Kids: I’m married to a registered sex offender. I’ve told […]
. David zfnznzisni Finkelhor, head of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, has written a very solid, smart article about the recent murder of Nicole Lovell, the 13-year-old Virginia girl allegedly killed by two older teens she met online. While The New York Times and other media immediately published articles screeching about new apps creating a […]
. Years ago I went to a friend’s African-American church. The preacher told a story about the time he was running to catch the bus on Manhattan’s Central Park West — a beautiful avenue boasting our iconic park on one side, and million dollar condos on the other. As he sprinted up the street, a […]
. Though we are exhorted to live in a constant state of hysteria when it comes to our kids, some people get just too fed up — or tired — to heed the latest  safety “advice.” Here’s kaenekfdsa one of them! Let us salute Anna Claire Vollers on Alabama’s AL.com for her dismissal of the nattering nabobs […]
. From what I’ve read — and seen in my own family — the best way to deal with an out-sized fear is to try to confront it, rather than “feed” it by more and more avoidance. And since, as a society, we have come to fear stranger-danger and kidnappings more than almost anything else […]
. How hesynasnrt can you tell when a culture is changing? When something that was once normal suddenly seems wrong. This can be good — grown African-American men no longer called “boy,” grown women at the office no longer automatically called “girl” — or it can be ominous. The story below is silly, but ominous. […]
. The Evening nbrdedesfs Standard announced that Facebook will “automatically warn parents if they share pictures of their children with the public by accident.” Thank goodness! Imagine if the public saw a photo of my child at the park! All bets are off! Here’s how Jay Parikh, Facebook’s vice president of Engineering, explained the new feature: […]
. Please tell me I am not the only person who would see a Facebook note like the one below (with a photo of the gosh-darn camera-wielding stranger) and write a comment like, “Taking photos of kids at play does not make a person a predator,” or, “Can we please give the guy the benefit […]
. This sshhietbzy thoughtful note came in response to my post about the child-tracking devices being marketed for Halloween. These devices promise they will provide “peace of mind” to parents otherwise terrified because their kids (even teens) are out in the world, unsupervised. Dear Free-Range Kids: As the mother of two teenagers I can appreciate how […]
