Our Moral Judgement Influences How Dangerous We Believe The Situation Is *** America is experiencing a bizarre disconnect between real and perceived danger when it comes to kids. But why? . Why are we arresting moms for putting their kids in “danger” for doing the things our own moms did without anyone batting an eye, like letting us walk to school, or play outside, or wait at home a short while? Recall that just about a week ago a mom was arrested for letting her kids, 8 and 9, wait at the condo for under an hour while she went…
Author: lskenazy
Danielle Meitiv, the Free-Range mom investigated by Child Protective Services twice for the unconscionable crime of letting her kids walk home from the park in Silver Spring, Maryland, has a new paranoid entity to deal with: The Montgomery County School District. Starting this year, every parent who wants to volunteer, even for a one-shot deal like a party, must undergo mandatory training in child abuse recognition. I guess that way, when they’re handing out cupcakes they can also quickly and accurately identify all those terrible parents who deserve a knock on the door from CPS. As Danielle wrote in an…
This kid reminds me of another young man who took the subway and proved that the world is a lot less dangerous than we are lead to believe:
This situation is so infuriating, I am at a loss for advice to give that doesn’t involve hissing. Maybe you have some? Dear Free-Range Kids: My daughter “M” just started 3rd grade at a school she has attended since preschool. It has 200 students K-8 so everyone knows everyone. There is one main building that has a field surrounded by a fence and then sidewalks that lead to the parking lot. . Last year after lots of debate, signing a waiver, and basically being told I was a bad mom, the teacher finally agreed to allow M to be released…
I can abide by most of these rules…except the alpaca thing.
No Child Left Alone: Getting the government out of parenting is the seriously great title of a new (and first!) book by journalist Abby Schachter. It begins with this story: Do you want to see government operating as if it can and should raise your kids for you? Try enrolling your child in state-licensed daycare. When our eldest daughter was 18 months old and started at the local preschool, the intrusion into our fami ly’s decisions started almost immediately with strict rules about which foods I could send from home and how I should prepare and portion fruits and vegetables.…
Halle Berry is not, I suppose, to blame for making an entire movie based on the idea that kids get snatched by strangers in the middle of the day from sun-dappled playgrounds. (A scenario already a popular staple of YouTube “educational” videos like this and this and this and sorta this. And here’s one from Latvia!). Message: All it takes is a second and your kid could be gone FOREVER. And yet, this movie — imaginatively titled “Kidnap” — will provide more Technicolor reinforcement of the notion that any mom who turns her head away for even a second is…
If you wish you’d started your kids on camping, hiking and all that good outdoors stuff, but didn’t, and now they are teenagers, all hope is not lost. I so appreciate this article in Tahoe Weekly sent to me by its author, Tim Hauserman, on how to become a camping family even at a late-ish date. The advice strikes me as smart, straightforward and not shilling for this company or that. After suggesting that of course starting when the kids are young is probably the easiest thing to do, Tim continues: Teenagers prefer to be with other teenagers. So gather…
“Of course we ran around as kids. Happiest days of my life! But times are different today…” To those who say that, here is this, from Johan Norberg in The Spectator: ‘We have fallen upon evil times, politics is corrupt and the social fabric is fraying.’ Who said that? Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders?…It’s difficult to keep track. They sound so alike, the populists of the left and the right. Everything is awful, so bring on the scapegoats and the knights on white horses. Pessimism resonates. A YouGov poll found that just 5 per cent of Britons think that the…
Wow! I had not heard of Betteridge’s Law. But after my post about the “dangers” of kids overheating in bounce houses, a reader named Richard sent this comment, which I very much appreciate! Always remember Betteridge’s Law: Any headline that asks a yes-or-no question rather than making a statement can be answered “No.” “Do Inflatable Bounce Houses Pose Heat-related Hazards to Children?” “Was Hitler a secret Jew?” “Do socks give you colon cancer?” Always works. Most of the time. Is this law going to change your life significantly? Is it more helpful than knowing how to make ramen? How…