Last fall, a man who was driving his van around Susquehanna University looking for his lost dog was mistaken for a predator. Why? Probably because he was…a man. Driving a van. Looking for a “lost dog.” Never mind all the “LOST DOG” posters the family had put up. Never mind the fact that his teenage nephew was in the passenger seat and his wife in the seat behind them. Man + van is all it takes. As the Orange Street News reported — exclusively! Susquehanna University has banned a Selinsgrove father from his own son’s preschool graduation after mistakenly accusing…
Author: lskenazy
Hats off to Sarah Sahagian for understanding this issue so deeply, as her reporting in The Beaverton indicates: Toronto — After her 38 year-old son Ben Johnson moved out and got a job at Starbucks, Child Protective Services decided to investigate his mother, Deborah, for possible child neglect and abandonment. “A neighbour saw Ben working as a barista at Starbucks, and she freaked out,” explained Deborah Johnson, whose son was, until recently, living in the basement. “When he told her he was living in a rented apartment with friends, she got even more frantic and contacted Child Protective Services.” When…
I’m thrilled and worried when these stories make the news (via CTV): A Winnipeg mom was doing the dishes while her three kids, 10, 5 and 2 , played in their fenced-in backyard. A neighbor called to report “unattended” kids frolicking and Jacqui Kendrick was visited by a child protective services rep. The rep asked questions about what Jacqui’s own childhood was like, how she punished her kids, and where they slept. She even looked in Jacqui’s fridge. Happily, the shrink that the CTV reporter interviewed for some perspective pointed out that neighbors should complain to each OTHER, not to…
. I was speaking at the Minnesota Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers last week, even as this story was sent to me by my dear friend whose 20something son has Autism. This issue is so thorny, fraught and sad: If a person is developmentally disabled and therefore not in step with others his or her age, is it any wonder they would, for instance, make inappropriate overtures, or even want to watch child porn, since they relate to the age of the kids in it, and yet are already sexualized young men and women? It’s not a pleasant…
Most nauseating pitch of the day (boldface mine): Hello! Ready or not…here I come! Little ones love all of the extra playtime that comes with summer; unfortunately, that also means there is more dirt and bacteria to keep at bay. California Baby’s Hand Sanitizer is the perfect product to have on hand– a quick spritz, and the lemon and lime essential oils will protect your children from any germs lurking on the playground. Keep it in your purse or diaper bag and continue with your fun uninterrupted by summer germs! You know whose summer was interrupted by germs? Kids growing…
The commercial below makes my heart sink, and not because I am so thrilled when my son goes driving off. It shows a teen girl driving like a maniac, playing hooky to go to the beach in a bikini, and sitting on the couch alone with her boyfriend about to…whatever. Then it shows how Verizon’s “Hum,” an electronic device you plug into your car that alerts you when the teen goes too fast, or beyond the boundaries that you get to set, or isn’t where she is supposed to be. You get the tracking info, you get to set the…
Pope Francis’ “Statement on the Family,” released April 8, runs 200+ pages. I cannot claim to have read them all. But here’s the part I’d call the Free-Range Passage (page 196-7): Parents need to be involved and “consider what they want their children to be exposed to,” wrote the Pope. “Vigilance is always necessary.” But, he added, “vigilance” is not to be mistaken for constant supervision! “If parents are obsessed with always knowing where their children are and controlling all their movements…this is no way to educate, strengthen and prepare their children to face challenges. What is most important…
Readers, I get about five stories a day that just flabbergast me. Here’s one. I’m not the only one slackjawed at the insanity of the concern afforded this “incident,” am I? I mean, just look at the headline! Potentially Suspicious Man Asks Girls about Buying Girl Scout Cookies Is “potentially suspicious” even English? Aren’t we all potentially suspicious? And here’s the story, from Wisconsin: Caledonia Police Department notified residents that a man suspiciously was asking two girls if they were selling Girl Scout cookies on Tuesday. “As the intentions of the male are not known, and may in fact be…
Let’s hear it for Mallory Ortberg, who, like her “Dear Prudence” predecessor Emily Yoffe, is a wonderful advice giver. In fact, she’s so wonderful that I have to include the entire Free-Range question she just got, and her wise — restrained — answer. Also, let me put in a pitch for Mallory’s book, “Texts from Jane Eyre,” which I could NOT stop reading aloud, even to people I barely knew, it is SO FUNNY. Anyway, I don’t know Mallory and never met her. I’m just a fan. Dear Prudence, I have a 4-year-old daughter who attends a neighborhood preschool. My…
Fox 26 Reporter Andrea Watkins wrote what I consider a masterful letter to the school district that has forbidden parents from coming onto school property to pick up their children and walk them home. (It does seem to allow them to wait until all the car and bus children have left — a lengthy process — and then take their kids by foot.) Here’s the update and her letter, from the Fox 26 Faceook page: My followup story about Magnolia ISD had to air in our 5pm newscast without any comment from the school district. I got no response about…