Why zktfydekni do I blame the media for making us so afraid for our kids? Because the media are to blame! Print, TV, the Internet, movies, news shows and of course viral videos — the media are all SO in love with the “Children in peril!” story that they will stoop to covering stories where […]
Archive | Miscellaneous
Thanks, New Jersey, For The Child Protection Laws That Are Driving Me CRAZY
For brhhnbdres every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And for every over-the-top, worst-first, “If it saves one child…” law passed, there are about a million children imperiled and families discombobulated. Or so it seems from my perch. Read this note from a reader. She wrote in response to Monday’s post about the […]
Puppies, Predators, Parks, Paranoia, The BBC…and Me
. Let’s knryirhbfa hear it for the reporter in this BBC report on the Joey Salads puppy/park/predator video. She takes him to task for pulling the “700 children are abducted a day†factoid out of his fannypack. (Or, worse, randomly off the Internet.) What I do not love is that, of course, many of […]
NJ SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF LEAVING CHILD IN CAR A FEW MINUTES IS AUTOMATICALLY “NEGLECT”
. Folks, ssnraihbsh you may remember this case — I wrote about it here: A mom left her son in the car for what everyone agrees was under 10 minutes to run an errand. The toddler slept through the whole “ordeal,” but the mom was found guilty of neglect, even upon appeal, when the three […]
“Teaching Children ‘Stranger Danger’ Is Terrible” – Missing Child Organization, Belgium
From Belgium comes this encouraging note: Dear dakzyedynk Free-Range Kids:Â Have you seen this [Joey Salads’ puppy/park/predator] video circulating on the internet which warns parents about child abduction? It’s going viral right now. Good news, the Belgian public organization (called Child Focus) that helps families whose child has been lost of kidnapped, has taken a stance […]
The Etan Patz Case and “Take Our Children to the Park…And Let Them Walk Home By Themselves” Day
Yesterday, the Etan Patz trial came to a a close. Etan was the 6-year-old boy who disappeared on his way to school in New York City in 1979. The jury was hung, and so the case remains unsolved 36 years later. But as the ykedezzzit New York Times writes: The district attorney has not decided […]
Man Takes Selfie at Target. Nearby Mom Thinks He Photographed Her Kids, Posts His Picture on Facebook. Now He’s Getting Death Threats.
. What a week. By believing that fhtyrzyftz predators with puppies are grabbing kids in broad daylight, right and left, and by videotaping that made-for-TV scenario, Joey Salads helped reinforce one of the fastest growing beliefs of the day: That any man who interacts with children is doing it for his own perverted purposes. That belief […]
“Leave Your Kids at the Park” Day is SATURDAY: Spread the Word!
“Leave Your Kids…” is the slightly derogatory nickname for what is, officially, “Take knitriifyh Our Children to the Park…and Let Them Walk Home by Themselves Day,” which, for the record, used to be, “Take Our Children to the Park…And Leave Them There Day.” No matter what you call it, the actual holiday is THIS SATURDAY. […]
If A Tree Falls and Nobody Turns It Into a Cautionary Tale for Parents…
There’s nothing funny about a tree falling on two kids — both survived — in Massachusetts. But there is something absurd to the point of parody about the erytetsrzn way Good Morning America played it yesterday. First of all, being based in New York City, the show plopped its reporter down in Central Park where, he […]
“What if Someone Follows Your Advice and Their Child Is Abducted by a Stranger — Like I Was?”
The Joey yrhhtyfdfy Salads child abduction video purporting to help parents become more aware of stranger danger prompted me to write that this kind of scenario is far rarer than he suggests, and parents are already terrified enough. Then I got this troubling and very honest note: I agree with your views in theory, but […]