Free Republic

A whopping 68 percent of Americans think there should be a law that prohibits kids 9 and under from playing at the park unsupervised, despite the fact that most of them no doubt grew up doing just that. What's more: 43 percent feel the same way about 12-year-olds. They would like to criminalize all pre-teenagers playing outside on their own (and, I guess, arrest their no-good parents). Those are the results of a Reason/Rupe poll confirming that we have not only lost all confidence in our kids and our communities—we have lost all touch with reality. "I doubt there has...

America's kids have been suspended for pretending that pencils were guns, but an Ohio school may have topped that. A 10-year-old student at a Columbus elementary school was handed a three-day suspension for making a finger gun and pretending to shoot a classmate. The suspension letter more formally referred to his weapon as a "level 2 lookalike firearm," reports the Columbus Dispatch. Devonshire Alternative Elementary School's principal says students have been frequently told not to play pretend gun games, with a district rep saying kids were warned consequences would follow. Those consequences hit hard last week for fifth-grader Nathan Entingh,...

With the Christmas shopping orgy well under way, never forget that the ultimate gifts that keep on giving throughout life for young and old are guns. For the young boys and girls, cap guns and holsters, nerf guns, toy bows and arrows with the suction cup arrows and other assorted toy guns and associated accessories are the obvious choice. Whatever you do, don’t forget to teach your rootin’ tootin’ boys and girls how to quick draw their cap guns and how to twirl them on one finger Roy Rogers style.

For Eddie Mason, the decision wasn’t difficult. The NFL veteran’s 10-year-old son, Tyler, won’t play tackle football until high school. Mr. Mason’s decision wasn’t a result of the burgeoning national discussion about football’s role in brain injuries. Instead, he believes children should learn the game’s fundamentals without tackling. Mr. Mason, who played three seasons at linebacker for the Redskins before retiring in 2003, sees a problematic culture infecting football’s lowest levels that’s inextricably connected to the safety concerns. “This brash kind of mindset, the underdog mindset,” Mr. Mason said, “this hard-core attitude kind of deal about who hits the hardest...

Today's young parents are confronted with a dilemma; should they obey the clear, strict instructions of the neighborhood school and make sure their child is vaccinated before school starts, or should they 'just say no'. Some folks on side of receiving immunization shots are quick to point out the worrying resurgence of various diseases most Americans thought were almost wiped out. Diseases such as measles, mumps and whooping cough have largely been held in check because of available immunization injections. In 2011 there were 167 cases of Whooping Cough reported. In 2013 there have been 352 so far. These almost...

For many American children, the floor has become their closet. This drives me crazy. I walk into a room where an urchin resides, and there are clothes scattered everywhere. Believe me, I know the passive-aggressive tactics that kids use to torture their parents, but something else is going on here. More than a few times, I've heard parents describe their offspring as "amazing." If you look up that word, you will see this meaning: "To cause great wonder or astonishment." That's what "amazing" means. So occasionally, I will ask the parent of an "amazing" child to tell me exactly...

All the employees of school districts on a witch hunt to expel and otherwise permanently punish young boys for shooting toy guns or forming their fists into the shape of a gun need to read Back to Normal. The purpose of psychologist Enrico Gnaulati’s 2013 book is to argue how ordinary childhood behavior is often misdiagnosed as ADD, ADHD, depression and autism — frequently with life-long, disturbing consequences. But along the way he raises the taboo question of whether we “label boys as mentally unstable, behaviorally unmanageable, academically underachieving, in need of special-education services, or displaying behavior warranting school suspension...

Character actor and puppeteer Gus "Cosmo" Allegretti, who voiced such "Captain Kangaroo" characters as Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Moose, Grandfather Clock, and Dancing Bear, has died, the Los Angeles Times reports. Allegretti died of emphysema on July 26, though his death wasn't publicized until Wednesday. Allegretti played numerous characters on the long-running Emmy-winning children's show, which featured the late Bob Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo. Allegretti himself created Bunny Rabbit, a bespectacled bunny who tricked the Captain into giving up his carrots, and Mr. Moose, whose corny jokes resulted in a shower of ping-pong balls falling on the Captain's head. He also...

You can drive through residential neighborhoods and never see a single child out playing. We should worry about what this means for the future. There are still kids in those neighborhoods to be sure; you can see them at the schools getting dropped off by their moms. Few kids seem to walk to school anymore. My old elementary school got rid of the bike racks and turned the enclosure into a garden. Maybe it’s the phenomena of helicopter parenting. It’s not the cool helicoptering of Wagner and “Ride of the Valkyries” but the lame kind of Barney and songs about...

I thought this picture was a great reminder of the great opportunity Obama has squandered to unite our great country. I am so very tired of his divisive identity politics and contempt for America. It's hard to keep a positive attitude these days and I thought this picture provided a little inspiration for why we need to keep Obama from tearing our country apart.

<p>If a Martian were to observe the human condition, he would have to conclude that the left has an agenda to deprive children of their innocence.</p> <p>The Martian would have no other explanation for the premature sexualizing of children that the left has engaged in for decades, and which seems to increases almost weekly.</p>

Here's a bit of advice real "safety experts" are giving kids — and parents. It's poisonous. But first, the back story: The other day, a blogger named Lisa Flam wrote on a popular parenting website that her seventh-grader came home one day and announced he "didn't do it." Didn't do what? He and his friend were walking home from school (points for that!), when a white-haired lady stood in her doorway and requested the boys' help. "She asked them to move a medium-size package from her front step into her house," Flam wrote. "On the sidewalk, the boys wondered what...

In the latest incident of anti-gun hysteria to erupt in a school setting, a kindergarten boy has been suspended from school for 10 days because he showed a friend his cowboy-style cap gun on the way to school.

To: Those of You Born 1930 - 1979 At the end is a quote of the month attributed to Jay Leno.. If you don't read anything else, Please read what he Said. TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints. We had...

Four years ago, psychologist Leonard Sax (MD, PhD) wrote a well-received book titled “Boys Adrift.” The doctor tried to answer the question, why have so many young males fallen into passivity and indifference? Dr. Sax had heard more and more parents complain that their boys stayed indoors most of the time, spent hours on video games, and in general seemed to lack the confidence and esprit de corps that had characterized boys throughout history. “Something scary is happening to boys today,” Sax concluded. “From kindergarten to college, American boys are, on average, less resilient and less ambitious than they were...

<p>New Jersey police and Dept. of Children and Families officials raided the home of a firearms instructor and demanded to see his guns after he posted a Facebook photo of his 11-year-old son holding a rifle.</p> <p>“Someone called family services about the photo,” said Evan Nappen, an attorney representing Shawn Moore. “It led to an incredible, heavy-handed raid on his house. They wanted to see his gun safe, his guns and search his house. They even threatened to take his kids.” Moore was not arrested or charged.</p>

As I walked through the Supermarket today, I passed through the isle that was full of children's toys of all kinds. Little racing cars, coloring books, transformers, Barbie dolls and baby dolls, stuffed bears, plastic airplanes, little ponies, bouncing balls, basketballs and something called slime. There were several children there, taking full advantage of the bounty as if it were provided for free. One opened a package of baubles that I could not identify while the other drooled on a basketball before throwing it in the general direction of the other child. And my old mind could not help but...

A mother says her 5-year-old boy was threatened with suspension after he made a gun out of Legos during an after school program. Sheila Cruz received a written warning recently about her son from the after school staff at the Hyannis West Elementary School because he had been using toys inappropriately. “She (the principal) said, ‘it’s a threat to other children and other children could have been scared.’” School officials say little Joe made the toy gun, then ran around the classroom, pointing it at other kids, and making shooting sounds. Cruz says while she and her husband thought about...

Recently it was banned from a playground in England, the topic of a sex convict’s confession in New Zealand, the subject of a child’s funeral here in the United States and the reason for a 911 call in my own back yard. Can you guess what it is? Hide and Seek. Yes, hide and seek. In our era of parenting, there are two philosophies regarding children’s interactions with the world that have seemingly emerged. Philosophy one views the world as a mostly safe place that we need to allow our children to freely experience and explore, and philosophy two views...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2012) — Previous research has shown that personality traits such as impulsivity or compulsiveness are indicators of an increased risk of addiction. Now, new research from the University of Cambridge suggests that these impulsive and compulsive personality traits are also associated with a traumatic upbringing during childhood. The study was published August 31, in the journal American Journal *************************************** This is what I have been saying for several years now, and Science is coming around to the same point of view. I discuss this as well as the cure in my book "Up From Down" which is...