Below is just one of several letters I’ve gotten recently from parents frustrated or furious about having to get background checked before they can do something as simple as coach T-ball, or chaperon kids on a field trip. The idea is that somehow, in the time a parent is shepherding a gaggle of goofy kids around the prehistoric mammal diorama, he or she could easily molest them or groom them for later depravity. Particularly galling is the fact — FACT! — that in Pennsylvania, where this particular parent is writing from and Jerry Sandusky’s legacy looms large, Jerry himself would…
Author: lskenazy
This is how insurance companies think, blame and change our culture. The paragraph below appears at the top of the “Effective Playground Supervision” page on the site of West Bend Mutual Insurance. West Bend insures the “businesses that many standard-lines companies shy away from” including, “daycares, fitness centers, swim clubs, summer camps and non-profit organizations.” Just today I got a note from a middle school teacher who let her kids do their math sheets outside and one of the kids stepped onto the sidewalk, hurt her ankle, and the parents sued. The school had to settle out of court,…
Wait…isn’t there a family in Florida who had their kids taken away because the 11 year old was unsupervised for 90 minutes? Maybe the authorities can watch this video and remember that kids who are 11 are not babies. In fact, they can SAVE them. Even in Florida! .
This was a notice sent out by an Iowa school district. As the resident who sent it to me wrote, “Evidently it is now a crime to even speak to a child waiting for the bus. Two men in a truck! Everybody run!” (Boldface mine.) Subject: Stranger Danger Alert: 1300 Block of NW 92nd Street, Clive Dear West Des Moines Community Schools Families: The following information was reported to the Clive Police Department: On May 22, 2015 at 8:35 AM, an 11-year-old student reported waiting for the school bus in the 1300 block of NW 92nd Street in Clive. The…
A dismaying letter followed by an infuriating news item. Aren’t you glad you got up today? Dear Free-Range Kids: My girlfriend and I were strolling through the Western North Carolina Nature Center. There’s a lovely climbing structure for the kids that is supposed to resemble a spider’s web. Though there is the usual soft material underneath, it would actually be difficult to fall off. The thing that caught my attention was what we heard from the mothers in the short time it took us to walk past. One called out, “Be careful! You’ll fall!” The second, “Remember that Allie is…
A reader just wrote to ask why do I keep scaring Free-Rangers by publicizing the worst and rarest cases of cops and CPS overreach? Stories like what happened to the Meitivs of Maryland, or the family of the 11-year-old in Florida, or Debra Harrell, the mom in South Carolina who spent a night in jail for letting her 9 year old play at the local park? Or this one, out of Chicago? Okay, okay — I’ll stop. (Wait — how about this one in New Jersey?) The answer is simple. My goal isn’t to scare — I actually wish I…
Yesterday I ran an interview with the Florida mom whose children were removed from their home for a month after a neighbor reported the family to Child Protective Services because their 11-year-old son was left outside by himself for 90 minutes. This story is so incredible, some people almost can’t believe it—and I can see why. It is as crazy as Maryland’s Child Protective Services accusing Danielle and Alexander Meitiv of negligence for letting their kids walk home from the park in Silver Spring. Unfortunately, sometimes this kind of thing happens. But when it is sufficiently publicized, change can happen—which…
I wrote about this case yesterday, and today had a chance to interview the mom by phone. She prefers to remain anonymous until the case is closed, and perhaps forever. As for why her son was not given a key: she worried that if he was in the house alone and a burglar barged in, he’d be in more danger than if he was free outside. This may not be your train of thought, but it is certainly not neglect. – L. One afternoon this past April, a Florida mom and dad I’ll call Cindy and Fred could not get…
Activist Bill Dobbs writes: “This story out of the heartland — northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan — deserves a bigger audience. Two teenagers meet via a hookup app but one turned out to be younger than the magic legal age. Now the older one is in jail for a misdemeanor, but once he’s served the time it gets even worse: 25 years of his future will be mortgaged to the Michigan sex offender registry. “Often those charged with sex offenses are shamed into silence. What’s unusual is that this young man and his family are…
At last! It may not be a cure for cancer, but it sure is close. Think of the lives saved by these Freezie Mits! My heart shivers just writing the name! Set of 8 mits for just $4.95 (shipping not included). — L