WELCOME, DR. PHIL FANS!

Thanks for taking a look at this site. As you’ll see as you poke around, this is the place for thinking about whether we have gone a little overboard in trying to protect our kids. As I say on Dr. Phil’s show, we overestimate the dangers out there, and have forgotten how competent young people are. [...]

THIS MONDAY ON DR. PHIL!

Hello, Free Rangers –
This is just a note to say that on Monday, Sept. 29, I’ll be on Dr. Phil discussing this whole issue.  If you tune in, you’ll see that it’s about “Extreme Moms.” Naturally, I don’t think I’m extreme. I think letting kids walk to school, ride their bikes or go to a [...]

A GREAT DEPRESSION FOR KIDS?

Not that I want this to be a Great Depression. I hope it’s not. But if it is, I see kids emerging from their dens when their X-Boxes break and their parents can’t afford to replace them. I see kids dropping out of travel soccer, when their parents can’t afford the gas. I see kids [...]

WALKING TO SCHOOL…WITHOUT YOU

Now that school’s back in session – which, by the way, is how absolutely every parenting article that runs in September must begin, by law – but anyway, now that school’s back in session, you may be wondering: Dare my children walk there? Without me holding their hands and screaming at cars making left turns, [...]

Not Really Interested

By Denise Gonzalez-Walker

DJ, my 10 year-old, stood in the middle of his classmates, rigid and then sinking quickly to the soft grass. His eyes rolled back as he fell and he let out a sharp whimper.
Sitting with a small group of moms, I watched the game from one side of the playfield. By the end, [...]