This week, a jury in Manhattan found Pedro Hernandez guilty of murdering Etan Patz in 1979. As the New York Times reports: Pedro Hernandez, a former bodega stock clerk who confessed to luring 6-year-old Etan Patz into a basement and attacking him, was found guilty on Tuesday of murder and kidnapping, a long-awaited step toward closure in a case that bedeviled investigators for decades and changed forever the way parents watched over their children. A Manhattan jury convicted Mr. Hernandez on the ninth day of deliberations after the second of two lengthy trials that brought renewed attention to Etan’s disappearance…
Author: lskenazy
Zachary X, now 19, is in jail awaiting sentencing for five pictures his teenage girlfriend sent him of herself in her underwear. He faced a choice between a possible (though unlikely) maximum sentence of 350 years in prison, or lifetime on the sex offender registry as a “sexually violent offender”—even though he never met the girl in person. Here’s what happened. About two years ago, when Zachary was a 17-year-old high school senior in Stafford County, VA, a girl in his computer club invited him over to visit. She introduced him to her younger sister, age 13. This younger sister…
Trying not to vomit on my pink-colored muffin: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I wanted to see if you’d be interested in receiving tips from parenting expert ______ , Psy.D on 3 Foolproof Was to Make Sure Your Child Feels Your Love, even during the chaos of daily life. A Clinical Psychologist specializing in Neuropsychology, and mom of two, Dr. ________ has great insights on how parents can make sure their child really feels their love, even on the days when they are challenging, frustrating and even obnoxious. Yep, parental love simply does not get through to kids unless…
One of the ways we could change America from fearful to cheerful would be if more schools started doing the Free-Range Kids Project. That’s the deal whereby the teachers tell the students to go home and ask their parents if they can do ONE THING that they feel they are ready to do, that for one reason or another they just haven’t done yet: Walk to school. Ride their bike to a friend’s house. Or…make dinner. I describe the project here. Meantime, below are some tips from Aviva Goldfarb in The Washington Post, should your kids choose cooking as an…
Here’s a note home sent by a school in suburban Maryland — the same county where the Meitiv kids were picked up twice for walking home from the park unchaperoned: February 8, 2017 Dear Parents/Guardians: I am sending this letter to inform the _____ community of an event that occurred at one of the _____ Middle School bus stops, near Hitching Post and Old Stage, on Tuesday, February 7, 2017 after dismissal. A student reported that, while at the bus stop, an adult male followed a group of students for about a block. He made no verbal or physical contact…
A California dad putting his child in the rear-facing back seat of his Tesla was held at gunpoint by cops who thought they had cornered a kidnapper. Apparently someone called the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s office around one in the afternoon on Saturday, convinced they were witnessing one of those public abductions in broad daylight that are so common (on Law & Order). Or maybe they just wanted to torment a Tesla owner. Either way, St. Clarita’s local news source, The Signal, reports: [T]he alleged abduction was just someone loading a child into a Tesla’s back seat, officials said. “It…
Here’s a handy-dandy post to whip out when someone screams at you for letting your kids wait in the car during an errand. (Did you know Free-Range Kids is a free app? That’s how you can whip this out): Last week, my preschooler came literally within an inch of his death in a shopping center parking lot. I don’t know what made that SUV driver stop backing out a split second in time–my blood-curdling scream or the God-sent invention of the back-up camera. I just know that my kids would have been a lot safer if I’d just run into…
Rhode Island activist Randall Rose brings us this disturbing report from Providence, where he teaches college: A Rhode Island bill would jail parents who leave their kids in a car, and is getting a public hearing today — Tuesday, Feb. 7. The bill (H5311 / S72) sets criminal penalties, including up to a year in jail, for parents who leave a 6-year-old in a car for over 5 minutes, even if the child is accompanied by a 13-year-old sibling. Almost all cases of leaving children in cars are harmless, and parents sometimes face situations where they reasonably determine that having…
This mom, S. Holland Murphy, takes on the parenting peanut gallery the way we all must: With our wits, and a reality check. Her piece, “A Note to the Great Mommy Shamers of North Texas,” ran in D (for Dallas) Magazine: I stand before you a guilty woman. The worst kind of woman, really: a freshly branded Bad Mother. Granted, I willingly put myself before judge and jury when I accepted an assignment from my boss, Tim Rogers. Tim, father of two, had seen one of my Instagram posts and suggested I expand the tale of a family outing gone…
Here you go, parents! A bottle that helps kids, um, drink water, thanks to educational game content, a sip-tracking app, smart-phone interactivity, and animated friends. Here’s what the bottle’s Amazon page says: Meet Gululu, the interactive water bottle that keeps us playful and healthy – perfect for children 3+, Gululu motivates kids of all ages to be happy and hydrated Let your child choose their favorite whimsical pet to embark on a journey of health and discovery — play, track stats, connect with friends, and drink to your health! Technology meets wellbeing: durable, safe, waterproof and wireless, with auto-updated educational…