Recess Coaches: Good Idea?

Hi Readers! Well today a topic we’d discussed a little earlier (and earlier still)  has made the front page of The New York Times. “Forget Goofing Around: Recess Has a New Boss,” is about a recess assistant hired at an elementary school in Newark, NJ, where many of the kids had ostensibly been spending recess deliberately [...]

What will they think of next?

Hi all, the Deputy here for one more post.  Lenore will be back on Monday. We’ve talked a lot about the United Kingdom and their, well, obsession with rooting out pedophiles, or as they write, paeodophiles.  I think they finally, yes finally, have this problem really and truly licked.  Tim Black of Spiked-Online reports that [...]

This is how it all started…

Hi all!  The Deputy here.  Lenore is away for a few days and I am filling in for her. On mamapedia, the editors asked their readers to vote on this very, very dear to our free-range hearts issue:  Would you let your 4th grader ride public transportation without an adult?  Lenore is smiling right now… [...]

Recent Tweets — And Off to Tucson

Hi Readers — From time to time I like to post  some of my recent tweets here, for those who are not (yet) Twittering away. So – voila, in no particular order: 1 -Whole NY Times story on whether Disney ousted anti-commercialism kids group from its Harvard home: http://nyti.ms/9y4IV3 2 – New blog from KaBoom (playground [...]

Subway Death

Dear Readers — It is with terrible sadness I report the death of a woman at about 3:45 this afternoon on the New York subway…at the station my sons use to come home from school.  At that very time. My younger son, the famous subway rider, got there just as the cops were sending people [...]

“Everything Is Dangerous” — Great Song

Hi Readers! Wish I’d written this one! Some of the lyrics: Everything Is Dangerous by Tom Smith Your kid can get salmonella from his new pet turtle, Buckle your seat belt or through the windshield you will hurtle, You can choke on anything not bigger than your head, Everything is dangerous, so how come you’re [...]

Mom Ordered to Clean Child’s Chalk Drawings off Ground :(

Hi Readers — Here’s a bit of a blog post by a mom from Ottawa. Read it and grrrr: I’m still a bit mad about this so if I sound angry, just know I am. Yesterday my neighbours complained about my daughter’s chalk drawings on the ground. The agent from our condo’s property management company [...]

Keeping Score — Literally (And a Song!!!)

Hi Readers! A friend just wrote to tell me he was dismayed to learn that at his local grammar school the kids play soccer but don’t keep score. Why not? Because this way, “Everybody wins.” Or nobody wins, of course.  If  losing a schoolyard soccer game is too traumatizing for kids, imagine what’ll happenwhen they [...]

Crazy Safe!Gov’t Recalls MACHETE as “Laceration Hazard”

This is ever so slightly off-topic (except that it highlights our societal assumption that everything is unsafe and everyone is super stupid), but thank you, Reader Laura, for sending in today’s product recall . The Consumer Product Safety Commission is telling consumers to immediately “stop using” the 20-inch-long, saw-tooth Gerber Gator Machete (related to Gerber hunting [...]

Sext or Kiddie Porn: Who Decides?

Hi Readers — Today’s post comes from guest contributor Anne Collier, who blogs at NetFamilyNews.org and is co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a forum for parents, kids, and everybody interested in safety on the fixed and mobile social Web. Take it away, Anne! THE SEXT TALK by Anne Collier Are we turning our kids into criminals? We just may [...]