. 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 […]
Tag Archives | sex offender
Another Day, Another Sexting “Scandal”
. The latest aktstysbrh sexting scandal comes to us from Peters (ha ha!) Middle School outside of Pittsburgh, where police are examining kids’ cell phones for nude photos. Why. Like really: Why? It sounds like a giant swath of middle school kids and teens have naked pictures of themselves and others on their phones. Investigating these […]
Pres. Obama: Resist Signing the International Megan’s Law
. Who here is in favor of sex trafficking? Didn’t think so. Me neither. You can be against that crime without using it for political grandstanding and cruel policies. But not, apparently, if you are in the U.S. Congress. In a blistering diasbefzby editorial, the L.A. Times writes: After rousing themselves from the 30-plus-year bad trip […]
The 10 Worst Free-Range Kids Stories of 2015 (and the 5 best!)
. A zrnsnndbay mash-up of the most insane events proceeding from the desire to keep our precious kids safe…no matter how moronically: 1 – Mom Who Overslept While Her Son Walked to School Handcuffed, Threatened with 10 Years’ Sentence In November, Connecticut mom Maria Hasankolli overslept while her son, age 8, got himself ready for […]
Back to the Future: Was Doc “Grooming” Marty?
. 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. […]
Parents Arrested for Letting Kids, 7 and 9, Play (Not Swim) on Beach for an Hour
. Parents sifkntyynt who let their boys, aged 7 and 9, Â play on their own for an hour at a family beach will be arraigned later this month on charges of reckless endangerment of a child. Â . Charles Smith and Lindsay Pembleton of Niagara Falls were vacationing with their kids on Cape Cod. The boys […]
“PLAYING DOCTOR” UPDATE: Why I Love Dear Prudence (Emily Yoffe)
. UPDATE! aheyrbeaaa As phenomenal as the advice “Prudence” gives to the neighbor who might report two teens having sex is the final story on the Dear Prudence page, which I originally missed. Here it is. Prudence — Emily Yoffe — wrote it after advising a grown reader that playing doctor as a kid is […]
Real Sex Ed Means Teaching Teens, “This Is How You Could Get Labeled a ‘Sex Offender'”
. One of the scariest things about our over-the-top sex offender laws is how easy it is for a teenager with a girlfriend, boyfriend or sophomoric sense of humor to get labeled a “sex offender,” with all the legal and social ramifications this engenders. That’s why I nominate the probation and parole officer profiled […]
Sex Offenders on Halloween: The Really Scary Part
. From poison candy to prowling predators, we keep confusing Halloween’s “spookiness” with actual dangers to our kids. Having scared ourselves to death, we then insist on making the the day ever more supervised. How far overboard can we go? Here’s a wonderful piece by Anat Rubin at The Marshall Project, titled, “This badddahnta is […]
Track or Treat! This Halloween, Treat Your Kid Like a Felon!
. Halloween szrdehshit is the ultimate Free-Range holiday — the one day of the year kids are  encouraged to go out in the world, on their own, and make things happen. They: *Dress up like adults (or at least not like the kids they are) *Take to the streets *Interact with strangers. Repeatedly! *Work and […]