Hi Folks! Lynden Dorvel, a high school physics teacher in Edmonton, Canada, has been suspended indefinitely for defying his school’s relatively new practice of not giving zeros. As reported in the Edmonton Journal: The physics teacher with 35 years experience said he continued giving zeros when students failed to hand in assignments, instead of using behaviour codes such as “not completed,” which the school requires under its grading and reporting practice. The school says it stopped using zeros a year and a half ago because it believes giving students feedback on what they have yet to do is more motivating.…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers — Just a little note from one of you: . Dear Free-Range Kids: My two-year old daughter face-planted while running on a sidewalk yesterday late afternoon. Now she’s got a scrape on her forehead and a “Groucho Marx”-looking mustache/skinned upper lip. We checked that her teeth and nose were fine, and she stopped crying before we got home. But, I cannot tell you how many moms (of all people!?) have stopped me to ask if I took her to the emergency room. When I say no, they look at me like I’m crazy. . Look: She fell while…
Hey folks — Let’s not get into a discussion of whether any child NEEDS to be drinking a foil-pouch drink. Let’s just enjoy this ad. I did! – L.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDgjJxJp6DQ&feature=related]
Hi Readers! Here’s the latest from the front lines of parenting insanity: Our beloved nanny who worked for us for five years — Joan — recently called to say she’s on the job market again. After us, she went to another family and she’s been working with them for the past decade. They’re helping out in her job search, of course, but could we help, too? With pleasure! I put a notice on a local parenting site: “Our extremely kind, smart, warm, funny, organized nanny seeks new full-time job.” I got a call from a woman who had been tasked…
Hi Readers! I’d never yeard of Enid Blyton, but I’m sure a lot of you have. So enjoy this essay by Kate Browne, a journalist based in Sydney, Australia. Kate is the mother of two little girls and hopes to cure them of their Disney Princess obsessions one day. She can also be found blogging, occasionally, at tigersandteapots.blogspot.com! – L When Dick & Fannie Became Rick & Frannie, by Kate Browne When I was a kid one of my favourite writers was Enid Blyton, the much loved British children’s author. Her books featured terribly English children having terribly marvelous adventures…
Hi Readers! You’re not dreaming. There’s a public school — albeit in Australia — where a few years ago the kids noticied some leftover building materials and started spontaneously building forts during recess. And, as Time Gill notes on his fab Rethinking Childhood blog: To its credit, the school reacted not with alarm, but with interest. Staff could see that good things were happening. Some made connections with their own childhood memories of playing in the creeks, bush and vacant lots of their neighbourhoods. Read more about the effort here. And let’s hope this movement BUILDS! (Yes, pun intended. With…
Readers – As I”m sure almost all of you have heard, there has been an arrest, 33 years too late, of a man who confesses to murdering Etan Patz. In the wake of 6-year-old Etan’s 1979 disappearance came the era we are living in to this day, the “Don’t let your child out of your sight, he could be snatched like that little boy” era. It’s an outlook reinforced daily by the media (“Up next: Children at risk!”) and the marketplace (“Buy this! Your children are at risk!”). It has been embraced by schools (“No walking allowed! Your children are…
Readers — The very best thing about this horrifying story (tweeted about it the other day) is this perfect comment about the school nurse who watched a boy slip into unconsciousness because of a form not signed. (It didn’t even matter that he had his medicine with him and the medicine had his name on it): Policy is meaningless if it is followed in blind obedience without consideration of the full consequences of not deviating. Right! I think that a lot of what is driving us all crazy about incidents like this, and Zero Tolerance absurdities, and even CPS travesties,…
Hi Readers! Quite a few of you sent in this story, now gone viral, about the high school principal who suspended upward of 6o students for their “prank” — a mass bike ride to school. As WOOD TV reported: Seniors called police for an escort, and even called Walker’s mayor, who rode in the parade. “Police escort, with the mayor, who brought us donuts. …The mayor brought us donuts…” said a group of seniors following the ride. But school official weren’t told in advance, hence the word prank, and were not happy with the event. They kicked the seniors out…
Hi Folks — Just got this stirring letter from a mom named Cathy. She was responding to a comment on the Free-Range For or Against forum by another mom, Heather, whose father was an abuser. Heather believes that an adult who doesn’t want to constantly supervise his/her kids is not only putting them in danger, but has “issues” and needs psychological help. — L. @ Heather-I am so sorry for the pain and trauma and immense fear you obviously still carry around with you. I hope you are in treatment. I am a survivor of physical abuse at the hands…