Sorry Readers — I’m all riled up today. Too many things are annoying me, and one of them is the story I just heard from a friend. On Friday, in honor of Mother’s Day, her first grade daughter’s class was having a tea. So, in the foyer, waiting to go into the classroom, were a [...]
Filed under: Crazy Parents, Miscellaneous, School and Zero Tolerance and Bullies, Uber Safety | 106 Comments »
Readers — Here’s a phenom unbeknownst to me (a mom of boys): the de-adventuring of American Girl dolls. Once marketed as pint-size players in America’s great sweep of history, now they go to the spa. According to Amy Schiller in The Atlantic: With a greater focus on appearance, increasingly mild character development, and innocuous political [...]
Filed under: Marketing Madness and Gadgets, Miscellaneous, Uber Safety | 89 Comments »
Hi Folks! My last two posts were about the 10-year-old boy not allowed to bring his pen knife on a nature trip as well as the ridiculous rules for adopting a pet that now sometimes include things like, “Pet needs one parent home at all times,” and, “Cat cannot be kept as a mouser in a barn.” [...]
Filed under: Helicopter Effect on Kids, Infantilizing young folk, Miscellaneous, School and Zero Tolerance and Bullies, Uber Safety | 42 Comments »
Readers — The Boston Marathon bombing has brought us an outbreak of sanity in the mainstream media. For instance, there’s this piece from CNN.com by Dr. Charles Raison. (For God’s sake — even his NAME means “reason” in French!) He argues that our brains haven’t evolved to parse the difference between a likely danger and [...]
Filed under: Breaking news, Miscellaneous, Uber Safety | 5 Comments »
Readers — This note comes to us from Nathalie Delage up north, where “Canadian Tire” apparently sells paranoia, too! – L. Dear Free Range Kids: Have you seen these baby carseat videocameras? They stream live video from the backseat to a monitor you attach to your windshield like a GPS. I wonder what exactly a [...]
Filed under: Crazy Parents, Marketing Madness and Gadgets, Miscellaneous, Uber Safety | 95 Comments »
Hi Readers! There’s the boogey man and then there’s the ice cream man. But thanks to a country suffused with predator panic, the two are fused together like the twin sticks of a Popsicle. It’s the same if you are guy and you want to work in day care, or as a birthday party clown, [...]
Filed under: Bad Laws, Rules and Verdicts, Eek! A Male! (and Stranger Danger), Miscellaneous, Sex Offender Issues, Uber Safety | 73 Comments »
Readers – We all want some sensible safety precautions taken in schools, but as far as I can tell they were all in place about 50 years ago and don’t really need to get more persnickety. But just as something there is that loves a wall, something there is that loves another layer of excess [...]
Filed under: Bad Laws, Rules and Verdicts, Infantilizing young folk, Insurance repercussions, Miscellaneous, School and Zero Tolerance and Bullies, Uber Safety | 64 Comments »
Readers — I’m not going to make this a long post, because the craziness is pretty obvious and I think there will be an uproar against it. Suffice to say some Maryland schools have outlawed (at least for the moment) hugs, homemade cupcakes and parent volunteers pushing any child other than their own on the swings. [...]
Filed under: Breaking news, Miscellaneous, Parks, Playing and Playgrounds, School and Zero Tolerance and Bullies, Uber Safety | 92 Comments »
Readers — An Oregon high school is planning to stage the most apocalyptic shooter drill yet. According to local public NPR station, KLCC: If Elmira High school students go to school on April 27th, they’ll be in an active-shooter role play drill. This is Chris Heppel, who’s coordinating the helicopters that will fly in to [...]
Filed under: Media Madness, Miscellaneous, Uber Safety, Worst-First Thinking | 63 Comments »
Hi Readers — Here’s a piece of mine that ran in The Wall Street Journal. Woof! (Doggie for, “Enjoy!”) – L. Helicopter Parents — Meet Helicopter Pet-Owning by Lenore Skenazy If you’re considering getting a pet at this time of year, as many folks do, you may find the rescue shelters a little pickier than [...]
Filed under: Crazy Parents, Marketing Madness and Gadgets, Miscellaneous, Other Places Other Eras, Stupid Advice, Uber Safety, Walk to School / Stay Home Alone / Wait in Car | 130 Comments »
