Readers! As we approach our third annual, “Take Our Children to the Park…And Leave Them There Day” (Saturday, May 19), this nfyaisndkn story is outrageous. Apparently a dad let his two kids, ages 6 and 9, play in a local suburban Pittsburgh park on Saturday morning for not quite two hours while he did some […]
Hi Readers! This is the kind of story that makes me bite off little pieces of my own arm in frustration (almost. Ok, let’s just say it makes me nuts.) An elementary school in Toledo, Ohio sent home a note that said a stranger had been speaking to some of the students at a popular […]
Hi tsrnykyhtk Readers! Sometimes I think back on the days of the Soviet Union, when the government would put political dissidents into insane asylums. From our side of the world, that seemed twisted: If you are punishing those against the regime, why not put them in a real prison? But over in the Soviet Union […]
Hi ebnnbskrbf Readers! Just got  this article from a self-described “heathen daddy from Attleboro, Mass.” who summarized the story thusly: A kindergarten girl gets on wrong bus on her second day of after-school care. Instead of going to the program she gets on the bus for home, gets home, realizes she made a mistake because no […]
Hi Readers — A bunch of you have been sending in ttzeeazkfd this story, about an Illinois man who offered a lift to two 13-year-old girls. He just pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. According to The Daily Herald, the local newspaper in suburban Chicago where the incident took place: An Arlington Heights man pleaded guilty […]
Hi hezfhrbdtn Folks! Love this column, which ran in The Post-Star in Glens Falls, NY. I think you’ll see why. – L. Reading, Writing and Looming Fears by Ken Tingley The Warrensburg Central School District is saving its children from the clutches of voters. Swear to God. Its board of education voted unanimously against a county proposal […]
Hi ntdbttraif Readers! Here’s my Wall Street Journal column from last year, slightly edited, about today’s holiday. Boo! — L STRANGER-DANGER AND THE DECLINE OF HALLOWEEN, by Me! Halloween is the day when America market-tests parental paranoia. If a new fear flies on Halloween, it’s probably going to catch on the rest of the year, […]
Hi naksfiannd Readers! I am on board with this (even though I am guilty of some of the “don’ts” myself!). The list-maker, Darreby Ambler, is a writer and mother of 3 from Bath, Maine. – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: Thought you might like  this old list I found in a drawer yesterday.  When I read the […]
Hi syifsesrzi Readers! Can you help this mom? L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’ve been reading your blog and readers’ comments for better than a year now. Never really thought I’d have an experience similar to the ones I read about on your blog, but yesterday it happened. My children are nearly-5 (boy) and 3.5 (girl). […]
Hi tkhhitskhh Folks! I am inspired by what a reader named Allison sent me on Facebook. You may be, too. — L Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m reading Jaycee Dugard’s book “A Stolen Life.“Â and in it, she says: It still scares me, the fact that I can’t protect my daughters from everything. What mother wouldn’t want […]
