This is just too weird: Maine passed a law, about to take effect, that forbids stores from allowing any “child” to witness a wine, beer or liquor tasting. According to this piece on the Maine Public Broadcasting Website: …as of September 12th, the law will add new restrictions, designed to assure that wine tastings are conducted in a manner that “precludes the possibility of observation by children.” Hudson [a wine shop owner] says she was unclear what that meant, so she asked a liquor inspector whether she could simply draw the blinds over her doors and windows during a…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers — We’ve been spending today thinking about what it would mean to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world. In other words, about great success and whether it is worth the peril. Here’s a nice sermon from a pastor named John F. Hudson in Sherborn, Mass., about the value of the opposite: failure. Since I have a whole chapter in my book called, “Fail! It’s The New ‘Succeed!” it naturally appealed to me. Main points? Defeats and detours can take us to the best places. Life isn’t meant to be a straight line anyway. …
Ahoy, Readers! Today’s “Free-Range” controversy concerns Laura Dekker, a 13-year-old in Holland who is already an accomplished sailor and now wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. Her parents — or at least her dad, with whom she lives — is all for it. The Dutch equivalent of Child Protective Services is against it and currently seeking legal permission to step in, take temporary custody of the girl and stop her. In other words: They want to ground her. (Literally!) And I am with them. Does this sail in the face of the Free-Range…
Dear Readers: You may recall that last week, Dear Abby passed along the advice that children take a walkie talkie every time they enter a public restroom so they can call mom when they get molested. Since this is a common fear, I asked a child abuse specialist if this is also a common occurence. Of the 500 children this pediatrician had treated for sex abuse, NONE had been abused by a stranger in a bathroom. So Abby’s advice was a little alarmist, to say the least. That same day, Abby ran a note from another reader that said we…
Thanks to Pyromomma for sending along this amazing photo! “Scientists Discover Portal to Outside World.” Show your kids! (And thanks again, Onion!)
Sometimes the boogey man is just that, as these parents found out: http://img29.imageshack.us/i/securedownloadbon.jpg/
In the town of Milford, Connecticut, in 2005, a grandma named Una decided to build a pool. That way her 14 grandchildren could play in it. Except, she worried: One couldn’t. He was allergic to nuts and there was the possibility that if he and a nut happened to be in the pool at the same time — a tree nut, that is — he just might have an allergic reaction. So to keep him from sitting out the fun, grandma did what any modern-day American does. She demanded the mayor chop down all the hickory nut trees near her…
Hi Readers! This just in, from Free-Ranger Deb Turner, who asks: “If you were shopping with your nine year old, and a man approached you and your child and did a Donald Duck imitation for the child, would you call 9-1-1? This happened in my local area.” ‘Duck’ didn’t ruffle any legal feathers The case of an Oriskany man accused of frightening children and parents at Wal-Mart with his Donald Duck impression was dismissed from City Court on Friday. A charge of endangering the welfare of a child was dismissed against Martin A. Tuzzolino, 55, by Judge Daniel C. Wilson,…
Thanks to the intrepid reporters at The Onion, we are finally dealing with the truth about backyard camping. It’s not pretty.
Hi Readers! Here’s what’s up at a grammar school outside of Chicago where the kids have apparently been getting it all wrong during recess. A local source writes: This past weekend I went over to visit a friend of mine who is a first grade teacher. When I walked in, she was watching a video demonstrating different outdoor games to teach children, like 4-square, tag, etc. I asked why she was watching and she said, “We are figuring out which games are appropriate to teach the kids at recess.” When I followed up I learned that during the past year,…