Hi adadfhkyfe Readers! The other day my brother-in-law asked me if I ever got really “down” about our culture. I told him that usually I don’t — I get so mad about ridiculous rules and outlandish fears that I just blog in a blind fury and feel better. But this story, sent by the folks at […]
Tag Archives | law
Keep Overprotective Parenting from Becoming the LAW!
Hi nhrzyrabfk Readers! I am thrilled to present to you a post by David Pimentel, a professor of law and author of a scholarly article on how to keep overprotective parenting from becoming the law. As he writes in his abstract: …the powerful influence of media has sensationalized the risks to children, skewing popular perceptions of […]
Outrage of the Week: Mom HANDCUFFED for Tardy Kids
Hi kefnarbdss Folks — This blog, as you know, is always trying to distinguish between real threats to children and the over-hyped ones. In this case, the fear of children being neglected or falling behind has gone overboard.  The mom is due in court this morning  — Wednesday. I wish her a lot of luck, […]
Outrage of the Week: Europe Bans Balloons for Kids Under 8!
Hi Folks! A number of you sent me this esbyhyyish today — news of the European Union’s new ban on kids under age 8 blowing up balloons unsupervised, for fear the children could swallow them and choke. This is not to discount the suffering of any family that has experienced this unlikely tragedy. But if […]
The Sex Offender Down the Street (Is My Son)
Hi kfbytkythz Readers — This is a candid letter from the mom of a sex offender who is on the registry for life. Read it and see if our sex offender laws are doing the job they were intended to do: keep our kids safe from predators. — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: My son was […]
“The Seemingly Inexorable Transfer of Authority from Parents to the State”
Hi Readers — As you know, I am a big fan of helmets. Have been since I first started this blog, as you can see right there, on the left of this post. I also make my kids wear helmets when they ski and snowboard. BUT I am also a big fan of this helmet […]
Outrage of the Week: Don’t You DARE Throw This Woman in Jail!
Readers — I am SO SICK of our finger-pointing culture ever-ready to criminalize a normal, if tragic, parenting moment. In hinatzbhak this case, a woman named Felicia Tucker is being charged in the drowning death of her toddler nephew Joshua because he got out of house and she didn’t realize it quickly enough. He drowned […]
“Leiby’s Law” Would Not Have Saved Leiby
Hi ttazasszeh Readers — This post was sent to me by Mendel Klein, a Brooklyn father and a pediatric occupational therapist who writes about the benefits of letting children fail over at, yes,  Let Your Child Fail. — L Leiby’s Law Wouldn’t have Prevented Leiby Kletzky’s Death Here we go again. While Leiby Kletzky’s parents and sisters […]
New Outrage: Sex Offender or Teenage Jerk?
Hi Readers! Ever look at a map of the local sex offenders, the ones with little dots showing where the guys live who prey upon helpless little children? Well, as of this week, there are two dots that won’t come off until the guys die of old age — which could be quite a while. Right […]
Guest Post: “Caylee’s Law” Could Make Me a Criminal
Hi asaryfkhht Readers! I’m busy filming my TV show, so I was glad to get this pithy guest post on Caylee’s Law. It’s a proposed law I’ve been disturbed by, mostly because often when we make laws named for tragic children, they seem to make sense only in very specific situations, and retroactively, to boot. […]