Lenore Skenazy (@FreeRangeKids) / X

Lenore Skenazy

41.3K posts

Lenore Skenazy

@FreeRangeKids

Founder, Free-Range Kids. President, Let Grow. Book: amzn.to/3DM2Wrv Let Grow Project/Experience: bit.ly/IndepTherapy

New York, NY

Joined February 2009

Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Mar 30, 2022
Tomorrow I will testify in a trial. Case: Mom let son, 7, play in park (where mom's friend was teaching yoga) while she bought a Thanksgiving turkey. Mom will be put on Child Abuse Registry if we lose. And if we do, so does everyone.
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Mar 31, 2025
Grateful that so many commenters appreciate the man's situation and drive, and recognize that demanding perfect parenting is pointless cruelty.
Everything Georgia
@GAFollowers
Mar 31, 2025
A 24-year-old Augusta man was arrested for leaving his children—ages 1, 6, and 10—alone at a McDonald's while he attended a nearby job interview.
Readers added context
"In a supplemental police report obtained by OutKick from the Richmond County Sheriff's Department, police determined that Chris Louis, the father of three did not attend a job interview while leaving his kids at an Augusta McDonald's." outkick.com/culture/father…
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Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Nov 16, 2022
Mom has 8 yo walk 1/2 mile home. Cops called. One asks: "Would you do this again?" "I said, 'I don't know,'" recalls Wallace. "That's when the cop replied, 'Okay, I'm going to have to arrest you.'" He proceeded to handcuff her in front of the kids.
Suburban mom handcuffed, jailed for making 8-year-old son walk half a mile home
From reason.com
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Jan 11, 2023
Still STUNNED by how our culture has managed to "dangerize" things as simple & safe as a 9-y.o. walking a quarter mile home in the 'burbs. Here's today's ethics qu about it in @NYTimes. Grandma wants to HIRE A CHAPERONE for the .25 mile. Thoughts? nytimes.com/2023/01/11/sty…
1.3M
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Nov 12, 2024
Child Protective Svcs wants mom to sign "Safety Plan" saying she will always know where he son is, and will install--as caseworker watches to confirm--a tracking app on her son's phone. So it begins. I have long said someday it will be illegal NOT to track your kids.
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Nov 12, 2024
Mom allows son, 10, to stay home while she runs errand. He walks to town (pop: 370) w/out telling grandpa, who is home. Someone sees him, calls cops. Mom arrested for not knowing he took this walk and "anything could have happened." reason.com/2024/11/11/mom…
252K
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Nov 12, 2024
Mom allows son, 10, to stay home while she runs errand. He walks to town (pop: 370) w/out telling grandpa, who is home. Someone sees him, calls cops. Mom arrested for not knowing he took this walk and "anything could have happened."
Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town
From reason.com
642K
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Aug 12, 2024
My Side of the Mountain Little Women The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe From the Mixed Up Files... What other children's books would you recommend for a list that inspires kids to be independent? (I realize this may be, "All of them." But give it a shot.)
190K
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Jun 5, 2018
ABSURD AND INFANTILIZING American Academy of Pediatrics Tells Parents Not To Let Kids Under 10 Walk to School or Anyplace Else Without an Adult HOW COME??? CRIME is down. OBESITY is up. ANXIETY is mounting. Antidote: A walk to school. bit.ly/2JeSDjB
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Dec 15, 2023
Dad lets son, 6, walk 2 blocks to store. One lady insists on walking him into store & back home. Another drives by & yells at dad, watching form porch. "He's too young!" Once home, boy tears up: "I tried to tell them I could do this myself!" letgrow.org/adults-stop-bo… @LetGrowOrg
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Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Apr 21, 2024
I present this video link of a kid, age about 3, cooking his grandpa a breakfast of eggs and bread on an outdoor brazier over open flame, as a gentle reminder to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Not that this is a kid walking to store. Just that this IS a kid. Competent. The
113K
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Apr 3, 2024
A rant. Sorry. But this culture can drive me nuts. It is BLIND to the idea that kids CAN and in recent history HAVE done some things, on their own, no parents involved, and this was GOOD. So--one "screen-time specialist" just emailed me with this "helpful" tip: Have families come
GIF
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Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Dec 20, 2018
DEPRAVED Sheriff's dept. planned shooter drill, but didn't tell school it was fake. Kids and teachers thought they were going to DIE. "Captain Francis said that the unannounced Code Red drill was necessary." Yeah? Kids vomited, passed out in fear. letgrow.org/this-must-end-…
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Apr 21, 2024
Town to kids: Please spend your afternoons at home on TikTok. Signed, The Library
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Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
Aug 15, 2018
An amazing decision by Judge Amanda Yip, who ruled on whether a mom was guilty for letting her son, age 8, play outside and come home on his own from the park, when he was severely injured by a car. Was the mom guilty for not being with him? letgrow.org/boy-8-runs-int…