First off, my heart goes out to Jaycee Dugard, her daughters, her parents, step-parents — everyone in her circle. She was kidnapped 18 years ago and kept imprisoned since then, bearing her rapist/captor two daughters who were also imprisoned until a few days ago, when Jaycee walked into a police station. This is, of course, every […]
Archive | Breaking news
Weighing in On The 13-Year-Old Wants to Sail Solo ‘Round the World
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 […]
Half of All 5-10 Year Olds Have NEVER Played on Their OWN Street
Dear Readers — Here is an extraordinary nhehtiekda essay from the Times of London, “We Approach Others’ Children at Our Peril.” It traces how “what began 25 years ago as an understandable desire to raise awareness of child abuse is turning into something extremely distructive — an instinctive suspicion of any encounter between grown-ups and […]
Outrage of the Week: “We LOVE Seeing Children Outside (But Not Under Age 16)”
Hi Readers — It’s summer! Time for kids to run around and ride their bikes and play like puppies till the moon shoos them home. Unless, that is, they’re living in the Eagle Place Townhomes in Lafayette, Colorado. There, no children are allowed to play outside, unsupervised, until age 16. That’s right. No kids. Outside. […]
Bike Riding Dad Shot in the Name of “Safety”
If eafkhhzkkh you needed more proof that our society is a little wacky when it comes to kids and safety, get a load of this: A North Carolina off-duty fireman SHOT A DAD RIDING HIS BIKE WITH HIS THREE-YEAR-OLD IN A BIKE SEAT because the fireman thought the road was too busy for this kind […]
My Take on the Arrest of the Mom Who Let Her Kids Go to The Mall
Hi! Lenore here, feeling it is time to weigh in on the Montana mom case still causing a commenting frenzy. This is the case where a mom named Bridget let her 12-year-old daughter and her daughter’s friend, both experienced babysitters, take their siblings, age 3, 7 and 8, to the mall. After a morning of […]
Why Is Australia Scaring Parents For No Reason?
Great dhhbahredf 2007 article about a $22 million campaign by the Australian government alerting parents to the ostensible dangers their kids face on line. An intrepid Sydney Morning Herald reporter, Michael Duffy, tried to find out what dangers, exactly, kids were being saved from. Well…there was that ONE arrest of a guy, he found. And another 55 […]
Six-Year-Olds Build Nuclear Reactor (Or So the Cops Think)
Another story feffyefrbt of strangely advanced kids — or is it strangely inept cops? — this time from Germany. Enjoy! — Lenore
Great, Pithy Quote About How We Get the Numbers Wrong
Granted, this quote is about a competely different topic — one I don’t even want to discuss here:Â swine flu. BUT this observation by Professor Dirk Brockmann, who models epidemics, holds so true for so MANYÂ fears, I just had to to shout it out. Here he is, as quoted in today’s New ztandfznzn York […]
Mom Orders Bickering Kids Out of Car — Ruining Them for Life?
Yowza. A mom fed up with her bickering daughters, age 10 and 12, ordered them out of the car in the downtown district of an upscale suburb, White Plains, New York. Then zkyribyfzf she drove off. They were three miles from home. One kid made it home on her own. The other was picked up […]