Free Range Kids

Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Abolish The Sex Offender Registry

A Grandma Reflects on Sex Offender Laws: “My Husband Would Have Gone to Jail” Following up on the Zach Anderson case — the 19 year old on the Sex Offender Registry for 25 years for having consensual sex with a […]

by · August 9, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Keeping The Maddy Middleton Tragedy In Perspective

Trying To Keep Parenting Perspective After the Maddy Middleton Tragedy Here are some thoughts from readers on how to keep a rare but horrific danger in perspective, especially when tragedies like the murder of Maddy Middleton become part of the […]

by · August 2, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids And Race

Free Range Kids And Race by Lenore Skenazy In an essay in today’s Washington Post, “Raising free-spirited black children in a world set on punishing them,” Stacia Brown sounds frustrated with the Free-Range Kids movement. She dearly wishes African-American kids could […]

by · July 26, 2015 · Family, Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Senate Passes 1st Ever ‘Free Range Kids’ Legislation

Senate Passes 1st Ever ‘Free Range Kids’ Legislation by Lenore Skenazy Sen.  Mike Lee (R, Utah) proposed  the first ever Free-Range Kids and Parents federal legislation, which was passed by the U.S. Senate yesterday. That’s right: a Free-Range Kids clause […]

by · July 19, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Helicoptered Kids, College and Depression

Are Helicoptered Kids More Depressed at College? This excerpt from Julia Lythcott-Haims’ new book, “How to Raise An Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success,” is more than viral. It pleads with parents to […]

by · July 12, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Dose of Reality — Child Kidnapping is Rare

THIS MUST END: NO MORE HARASSMENT FOR LEAVING KIDS IN THE CAR A MINUTE OR TWO! From last night’s email: Dear Free-Range Kids: . Hello!  My name is L. and today I had a pretty traumatic experience. I am a […]

by · July 5, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Medical Kidnapping

This piece comes to us from Carlos Morales, a former Child Protective Services investigator, now the supremely disillusioned author of “Legally Kidnapped: The Case Against Child Protective Services.” Carlos is president and founder of Child Protective Services Victim Support, and a legal advocate for family […]

by · June 29, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free Range Kids: Horrible Insurance Advice

Horrible Insurance Advice by Lenore Skenazy This is how insurance companies think, blame and change our culture. The paragraph below appears at the top of the  “Effective Playground Supervision” page  on the site of West Bend Mutual Insurance. West Bend insures the […]

by · June 21, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Crazy Woman Calls Cops on “Bad” Mom, Cop Sides with Mom!

Crazy Woman Calls Cops on “Bad” Mom, Cop Sides with Mom! by Lenore Skenazy This story  is upsetting, but also reassuring. I put it here to remind us all that just because some authorities are too quick to investigate fine […]

by · June 9, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Boy Scouts Can’t Squirt Squirt Guns at Each Other and Must Use Goggles

Boy Scouts Can’t Squirt Squirt Guns at Each Other and Must Use Goggles Boy Scouts can’t shoot squirt guns at each other. Here’s the rulebook (see page 99). And here’s the article for Boy Scout leaders that points out:  “Water guns and rubber […]

by · May 26, 2015 · Free Range Kids
Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free Range Kids: Etan Patz and The Legacy of Fear

The Etan Patz Case and “Take Our Children to the Park…And Let Them Walk Home By Themselves” Day [This week], the Etan Patz trial came to a a close. Etan was the 6-year-old boy who disappeared on his way to […]

Lenore Skenazy, author, Free Range Kids

Free-Range Kids: Boy, 4, Takes Off Clothes and Runs Outside. Parents Visited by Cops

Boy, 4, Takes Off Clothes and Runs Outside. Parents Visited by Cops by Lenore Skanazy Somehow, seeing a naked 4 year old running around in front of his house (that is, the kid in front of the kid’s own house) […]

by · May 3, 2015 · Free Range Kids
No more empty parks! Let’s bring kids back outside!

Free-Range Kids: Take Our Children To The Park Day, May 9

Take Our Children to the Park…And Let Them Walk Home by Themselves Day: SAT, MAY 9   For the past five years Free-Range Kids has been sponsoring Take Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day. This year, in […]

by · April 26, 2015 · Family, Free Range Kids
FREE-RANGE KIDS: Boy With Autism Wanders Off, Case of Neglect?

FREE-RANGE KIDS: Boy With Autism Wanders Off, Case of Neglect?

Boy With Autism Wanders Off, Frantic Mom Calls 911, Cited for ‘Suspicion of Neglect’ What is it that the authorities do not understand about what it means to be human? Humans cannot be perfect. Humans cannot see all. And yet, […]

There is nothing on earth that presents ZERO risk.

Free-Range Kids: Can’t Prevent Every Tragedy

What a Suicidal Pilot Can Teach Us About Trying to Predict All Risk Like everyone else, I wish that the suicidal Germanwings pilot had been stopped from boarding the plane. I even think it makes sense for Europe to copy our “two […]

by · April 5, 2015 · Free Range Kids