Hi Readers! This came in response to the hfirrfdify post about a mom who unexpectedly left her 3-year-old alone at a table at Taco Bell for two minutes and got screamed at by the woman at the next table for “endangering” the child. “Please tell me I didn’t do something crazy,” wrote the mom. Most […]
Tag Archives | worst-first
Warnings, Waivers & Wild Worries! Like the Pre-K That Keeps Kids’ Photos in a “Secure Location”
Hi Folks! I’m trying to gather examples of warnings, waivers and official worires that annoy, amuse or outrage you, especially regarding your kids. For instance, over in England  schools are forbidding parents from taking pictures at plays. One sports program requires shutter-happy parents to wear a special ARM BAND if they’re going to snap pix. […]
This is NOT a Crime! Cops Charge Dad Who Let Kids Play Alone in Park for 2 Hours
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 […]
School Alerts Parents: Local Man SeenTalking to Kids!
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 […]
Parents! Kids! Beware of…Palm Sunday?
Fresh nbzdtiaynf from the annals of, “What If?” and, “Worst-First” thinking comes this timely tidbit: Dear Free-Range Kids: Yesterday was Palm Sunday and at my church there’s a tradition that goes all the way back to my own preschool days of the little Sunday School kids leading a processional into the church waving palm branches […]
Victory! 5th Graders Allowed to Enjoy Unsupervised Afternoons Again!
Hey Readers!! Here’s sarsadbeke great news! The school in Davidson, N.C., that had suddenly prohibited fifth graders from leaving the school on Fridays to walk down to the village green has reversed itself! On Friday, even as a big bunch of kids and some parents marched to “Occupy the Green,” the new principal (not the […]
Outrage of the Day: Coffee Banned from Mother’s Group for “Safety”
Hi Readers! Here’s one rfkbyhhdeb to get your blood (and water) boiling, direct from The Mirror, in England. – L. Mums have been told they cannot have a cup of coffee while looking after their toddlers at a children’s centre – because it’s against health and safety rules. Council officers told the group to change its name from […]
Does Teacher’s Pet = Pedophile Alert?
Hi Folks — Here’s another little story that reminds us how  Worst-First thinking has become de bbkddrtktz rigeur when it comes to kids in the company of adults: A young Teach for America teacher took a student out for a hamburger and was immediately reprimanded by the school. Yes, rules are rules, and he probably should […]
Warning! Divorced Dad at Home During Sleepover!!!
Hi nitasiirre Folks! Here’s why I rag on the parenting magazines. Not only do they obsess about every little detail of parenting as if it’s a make-or-break  decision, but often they indulge in Worst-First thinking (dreaming up the worst possible scenario and proceeding as if it is likely to happen). Here’s a shining example, cribbed […]
“Pervy Principal Means I’ll Never Go Free-Range”
Dear Readers:  As the new year begins, I’m looking back on things I meant to comment on and here’s addnednsbe a piece from November that gets my goat. It’s an essay by a mom who declares she would like to be more of a Free-Range parent, but she simply cannot. How come? Because she recently heard […]