Doonesbury sums up a whole lot of our themes — and gives us a name check — in today’s funny pages! In case it’s too small to read, here’s what it says: Alex Doonesbury (born Nov. 30, 1988, daughter of Mike and J.J.) is at her computer. It’s dinner time and she’s wondering where her […]
Hello Muddah, Hello, Faddah — in The Smartphone Age
Remember (or not!) the classic Allan Sherman song, “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah,” the letter from an unhappy camper? Today’s post involves something remarkably similar — except it’s updated. And it’s real. It comes to us from James Frank’s Wild Nature Adventure blog. “Ranger James” started and runs the Lure of the Wild Nature Camps in Catonsville, Maryland. […]
This Thanksgiving, Be Thankful for Strangers!
As we approach the holiday of gratitude, here’s a little reminder that “stranger-danger” gets it wrong, and we should be grateful for all the humans looking out for kids. This video (click here) was sent to Let Grow by Rosalie Witt, an early childhood instructor, consultant, and coach in Connecticut who helped us pass that state’s […]
What Hath Liam Neeson Wrought?
Today’s pithy comment comes in response to yesterday’s post about a mom sick with fear because a man (!!!) was in the vicinity of her daughter. Nothing happened. And yet – because the press is so eager for any story of a child in peril – it reported the “incident” with the gravity usually reserved […]
Something Unspeakably Awful May Have Almost Practically Happened to a Child!
“A mother’s worst nightmare almost came true in broad daylight after a man may have tried to lure her toddler daughter in a residential area.” . Gee, that’s a lot of hedging for the first paragraph of an article. Something ALMOST, MAY HAVE happened. Yikes! But so begins a “news” story on KHQ, a news […]
The Switch Witch Must Go!
The New York Times columnist Jessica Grose has a plea for all of us adults: Stop Micromanaging Halloween. It’s a trend that’s been growing like the Great Pumpkin ever since from back when *I* was a kid being warned about poison candy. (The number of kids poisoned by a stranger’s candy in all that time? […]
50% of Parents Won’t Let Their Kids Go to Another Aisle in Grocery: Poll
Most parents believe it’s important for kids to develop independence in their elementary school years by doing things “away from direct adult supervision,” according to a new survey by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. But in a national poll of 1000 parents, the hospital found “a sizeable gap between parent attitudes and actions.” […]
Teens 18 & 16 Had Consensual Sex. The 18-year-old Went to Prison for Six Years
When Henry was 18 he had sex with a 16-year-old he met on a dating app who said he was 18, too. The 16-year-old’s parents found out, called the cops, and Henry was charged with a sex offense. He took a plea: No jail time, in return for seven years on the sex offense registry. […]
That Pediatrics Article about Declining Childhood Independence Causing Declining Childhood Mental Health
This article in the Journal of Pediatrics — Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence — has been getting a ton of attention in the last few days, especially on Twitter, so we are updating our blog post about it. If the article’s title sounds like what we’ve […]
Washington Post Scares Parents Needlessly
Stunned joy is what most of us felt when we learned that Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old abducted while riding her bike in upstate New York, has been found and returned to her family — alive. The alleged perp has been seized, bringing the number of active Amber Alerts in the entire USA to…one: Keshawn Williams, […]