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Text of the page (random words):
re infected over the years with this insidious worst case scenario type of thinking some examples recently one of my teachers reported me to my boss for a free range comment i had made one day one of our children decided to sneak away from school and not come to the afterschool program this resourceful 8 year old made it pretty much clear across our medium sized town heading to a friend s house we followed our policies when he didn t show up to our program parents and police were called and they tracked him down in pretty short order after the dust had settled i made a comment to one of our teachers who i mistakenly figured held similar free range ideas saying that while it was good that we found the boy i was impressed with the boy s resourcefulness and that maybe as a culture we shouldn t call up visions of child molesters and abductors every time something doesn t go as planned the teacher went to my boss and told her that he didn t think i was very serious about protecting the children in our care another policy kids can t walk home on their own again liability how much could we be sued for if a kid breaks their leg or goes missing on the short walk home we re a neighborhood school even if the parent has given permission frustrating to me because the odds that nothing bad will happen within a two block walk are pretty astronomical and then add to that the very tiny chance that their parent will pursue legal action these are parents that we as a rule work together with as partners and we have very good relationships with our parents here s a corker our local little league uses the fields on our school grounds for practice and games can we release the kids to just walk across the field again on the same physical grounds to practice heck no we require a responsible adult to come and sign them out and walk them the 100 yards to practice and even better by policy that responsible adult cannot be one of our staff members even if the parents say it s okay and we walk them every step of the way finally here s a spot where i ve rebelled although quietly at one of our sister centers on the grounds of another local school they had a kindergartner who fell off the monkey bars while playing in the afterschool program and broke her arm immediately and with almost scary domino like action many of the other local centers including the one in question banned kindergarteners from the play structures even though they re labeled for use by kids 5 12 years of age no one ever made it an official policy so my kindergarteners continue to enjoy play time on the play structure my main philosophy in afterschool care is that we exist to facilitate the emotional and social growth of children and if we re going to succumb to the bubble wrap philosophy of raising kids then our mission is doomed from the start at my center kids will be allowed to play freely on the play structure kids will be allowed to wrestle in the grass and i will make free range choices in every area where they have not already been banned and by the regulating agencies lawyers and insurance adjusters and unlike some of my fellow co workers i will not succumb to the worst first type of thinking that stunts the social and emotional growth of the next generation rick rood filed under insurance repercussions uncategorized walk to school stay home alone wait in car worst first thinking tagged after school rules after school regulations afterschool care rules afterschool regulations afterschool rules common sense free play little league no freedom at daycare play regulations playground regulations rules school regulations ymca rules zero tolerance 27 comments want to help out at a class party all you need to do is get fingerprinted posted on september 6 2012 by lskenazy hi folks here s a school memo one of you sent in from the brave new world that thinks somehow every time any adult encounters a child even in a classroom filled with other adults and a gaggle of kids the kids are in grave danger wiggle those digits if you attended volunteer training last spring in order to be able to help out at school in the classroom on field trips at parties etc there s one more step you need to take the school board recently added a fingerprinting requirement for all volunteers to accompany the existing background check new volunteer training this year will include fingerprinting opportunities if you completed the training last school year you need to get in touch with volunteer coordinator the district is paying for the fingerprinting how kind is the district using money that is not coming from anything else like books or field trips l filed under school and zero tolerance and bullies sex offender issues uncategorized worst first thinking tagged adults in school adults with kids all adults are evil background check distrust fingerprint volunteers school insanity stranger danger turn off volunteers 78 comments parentstrailing the school bus and other back to school excesses posted on september 5 2012 by lskenazy hi folks i have a piece in today s wall street journal when separation anxiety goes overboard it s about the way the advice o sphere manages to turn the first day of school into a super dramatic super traumatic event that requires the kind of preparation once associated with storming the beaches practice how you will say goodbye urges one of the zillion or so websites featuring first day of school tips goodbye hmm that just doesn t seem very difficult to me maybe i m heartless in fact i know i m heartless because i never bought a nesting heart that s a toy made by a company called kimochis that is meant to help ease the separation when you drop your kid off at school how does it work your child can take the inner heart to school and you can keep the outer heart at home says a kimochis news release create a playful ritual for separating the hearts at drop off and putting your hearts back together at pickup reassure your child and yourself that the nesting heart keeps you connected even when you are apart oh yes how incredibly reassuring it must be as junior watches you playfully break your heart in two but at least this psycho toy lays it on the line mommy is incomplete whenever she s not with you and you are incomplete without mommy got that now go have a great first day one of the things driving parents and of course kids crazy is the way every childhood event has been elevated into a difficulty only to be surmounted with products classes and heaps of expert advice back to school now proudly takes its place in that pantheon alongside babyproofing the living room and the decameron that is packing for camp l p s i know the link only gives you a few paragraphs at least for the first 30 days but if you re a subscriber you can read the whole thing very sorry it s not visible to all yes some parents actually follow the bus to school to make telepathically sure their kids are safe filed under crazy parents helicopter effect on kids stupid advice uncategorized tagged advcie back to school ease the transition first day of school jitters oped opinion piece parental advice parenting marketplace separation anxiety suckers wall street journal 110 comments can we vote for this guy even though he s 9 posted on september 4 2012 by lskenazy hey readers you want inspiration you got it a 9 year old detroit boy was dismayed by the fact his local park was totally overgrown the city could afford to mow it just twice a year so did he stay inside playing videogames he set up a lemonade stand and made 3000 over the course of five days donated it to parks rec this video is from when he was just getting started you ll love it filed under good news parks playing and playgrounds uncategorized tagged change agent detroit entrepreneur fight city hall inspiration inspiring kid entrepreneur lemonade stand park playground popcorn success story tough neighborhood 29 comments she looked up and her 2 year old wasn t there posted on august 31 2012 by lskenazy hi folks this is a good one to take to heart and to the playground lenore dear free range kids i ve known for a while that free range is a great way to raise confident independent capable kids but i never knew how much this approach would help me as a parent until last night i was at a local park with my boys they are ages 2 and 4 my older son has just recently mastered monkey bars and after his probably 10th or 12th time cruising along them his hands slipped and he fell down pretty hard he s generally a tough guy when it comes to injuries but he d gotten the wind knocked out of him as well as a fat lip and was quite upset i was consoling him for a few seconds when my 2 year old apparently wandered off this park is quite large it has two separate playground areas some soccer and baseball fields and a woodsy area with trails to walk through i had no idea which direction he d gone and was pretty panicked he was only missing for about 5 minutes but it felt like days immediately several complete strangers essentially organized a search party and they put one of them in charge of staying with my screaming injured son so that i could go help look for my younger son without the older in tow i found my little one down on the lower playground around the corner out of sight from me he was happily talking to a man with a dog after i got home last night and was somewhat settled down from what had been an absolutely terrifying ordeal to me i had this moment of clarity where i was so thankful that i ve found your blog and have become a proud self proclaimed free range mom during those scary 5 minutes at no time did it even occur to me that my missing son had been abducted i instinctively went with the most logical scenario he s 2 he probably saw something interesting on the other side of the park and had wandered over there there was a little league game going on lots of kids down there and as i mentioned people with dogs he loves dogs it was the most likely scenario and it allowed me to find my son much quicker by following my instinct instead of the standard worst first thinking it also allowed me to feel perfectly comfortable leaving my older son with strangers while i searched for the other thank god for common sense and the kindness of perfectly safe strangers and thanks for continuing to spread the word about the benefits of raising free range kids fondly karen miller a toddler a dog and a frantic mom not pictured filed under creating community eek a male and stranger danger parks playing and playgrounds uncategorized worst first thinking tagged child safety children safety fear for kids how to keep kids safe kids at the park lost kid on playground missing child playground fear playground lost kid predator predator panic stranger danger 43 comments only bad parents make their kids walk to school posted on august 30 2012 by lskenazy hi folks i read this over at rixarixa and asked if the blogger was game to let me reprint the whole thing yes so here it is in all its infuriating bureaucrat brained fullness we ve been walking zari to and from kindergarten it seemed the most logical of our three options walk ride the bus or drive since we only live 1 km away if zari rode the bus she d have to leave the house almost an hour earlier and she d get home 1 to 1 1 2 hours later that adds up to over 2 hours on the bus per day driving was out of the question why drive when our legs are perfectly capable of getting us there so far we ve enjoyed our twice daily walks eric and i switch off walking duty depending on who is teaching that day we get time with zari and we get extra exercise sounds like the perfect scenario right yes except that we have to cross a death trap road on the way it s a state highway that runs through town and there are no stop signs or stoplights in probably a mile either direction there s a flashing light that goes on during school hours this means that cars are supposed to slow down to 25 mph but no one does every time we cross the street it s like we re inside a giant game of frogger this totally dates me i first contacted the school transportation department to inquire about crossing guards after all the road where we re crossing is the main entrance into the elementary school and to the county fairgrounds the reply they used to supply a crossing guard at that intersection but not any more they told me to talk to the police department so i met with the chief of police and explained my concerns that the school no longer provided a crossing guard and that i was having real troubles getting us safely across the street especially during the morning rush he sympathized with my situation and said he d send some patrol cars out in the morning but otherwise he coudln t do much else he suggested talking to someone in the state transportation department since traffic signs on that road are regulated by the state not by the city this morning i spoke to a woman at the state transportation department i explained our difficulties crossing the road and asked if they would consider doing a traffic survey to put in either stop signs or a stop light i told her i d already met with the school transportation coordinator and the police chief and they both told me they couldn t do much else to help me her response you really should have your daughter ride the bus i explained that this option made no sense in our situation we live close to the school and riding the bus would take an extra 2 hours out of my daughter s day her reply well you re the one who s choosing to put your daughter in danger you re choosing your convenience over her safety she has a safe option and that s to ride the bus excuse me when did walking your child to school mean that you re a bad selfish parent i abandoned any niceties and dropped my polite tone i said that it was not just a choice between convenience and safety after all we re facing major obesity and pollution crises in this country i feel very strongly that it s an irresponsible choice to put my child on a bus for 2 hours a day or to drive her to school as many parents at this school do when we re perfectly capable of walking the solution isn t just to put my daughter on a bus it s to help us find a way to safely cross the street her reply in my town i have several friends who live across the street from an elementary school and they all have their children ride the bus because it s safer than crossing the street the then told me that she likely couldn t do anything to help me and to talk to the school and the police again can anyone else see what s wrong with this picture is there anything else i can do i do have something really subversive up my sleeve more on that later lenore here i like the sound of something subversive please keep us looped in l filed under guest post helicopter effect on kids walk to school stay home alone wait in car tagged bget cross stop childhood obesity crazy cars excrcise fight city hall get crossing guard get sto...