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There are some parenting issues where parental discretion is best. Some examples might be how long and when your child sleeps, who cares for your child during the day, and where your child goes to school. You, as a parent, can observe how your child reacts to different situations and make the best decision based on that.

Car seat safety is another matter. Just because you have driven around for x many years with your child forward-facing, or sitting in the front seat, or riding in the back in a tricycle and you haven’t gotten into an accident doesn’t mean it’s safe or good! The statistics clearly show what the safest options are. Why would anyone blatantly disregard them?

I understand the desire to tend to you child in the car. But being able to pop a paci back in the baby’s mouth is not as important as having my child safe in case of an accident. If you have your child in a backseat with a mirror, tilt the child seat properly, and not have anything around that they could choke on, they will be safest.

FWIW, I am sure that far more children are injured or killed each year due to being improperly restrained than being left in the backseat because their parents forgot them. By your logic, why not drive with your child on your lap?

I feel like many on this thread toss this important advice out as a way of “sticking it to liberals,” or because they want to rationalize their own unsafe behavior.

Look at the statistics, read your car seat manual from cover to cover, and keep your child safe! car-safety.org is a good source of information.

Wow, I am surprised about all of the negative comments on this post. Scoffing at safety precautions is easy to do when you and your loved ones have been lucky enough to have a long, healthy, accident-free life.

I understand the aversion to government “getting in people’s business.” But an aversion to general safety tips that can keep your child safe? That I don’t understand. What is the big deal about strapping your child in a car seat properly? I am not one to want to wrap my kids in bubble wrap, but sheesh! If positioning the car seat properly has been shown to be safer, why would I scoff at that?

As for their legs being squished, a poster over at cnn put it like this: broken legs = cast; broken neck = casket.

And a mirror for $15 at Target solves the problem of not being able to see your child while you are in the car.

With all the maniacs texting while driving and fiddling with their GPSs, I’m making sure my kids are as safe as they can be when we go in the car and I, for one, appreciate this kind of research.

Great suggestion! Thank you.

I agree that learning to read and then reading for enjoyment and learning is the most essential component to an education.

Now that my daughter is in kindergarten, the thing I miss most is the hours we used to sit and read together.

On a different topic, I wish there was some research on homeschoolers that was NOT done by Brian Ray. I feel like it is not totally impartial when a big homeschool proponent seems to provide 90% of the research on the topic.

Do I want the government in my life? Absolutely not. At the same time, I feel that some FReepers are too hard on Michelle Obama. She’s trying to give blanket advice to make people healthier. I think she has the respect of many Americans and messages coming from her might get through (eat healthier, breastfeed, exercise, etc.).

I hate funding people’s unhealthy habits. My insurance costs are through the roof and I am sure taxes going to Medicaid are too. I don’t care how people live their lives, unless I’m helping to fund it. Until that stops, a little encouragement for people to be healthier is a good thing.

Yes, I hope to persaude my husband with a trial year. My daughter is in public school kindergarten. We live in a top school district and she also absolutely loves school, so it’s a hard sell right now, but I am hoping that as some of the negative social aspects of public school become clear that my husband will be more receptive. For now I’m “afterschooling” but will keep working on my husband!

We love Well Trained Mind!

What about Maria Miller’s Math Mammoth? http://www.mathmammoth.com/about.php

It’s the best math curriculum I’ve found. It is about $30/year, my daughter loves it, and it was developed by a “math teacher turned housewife and homeschooler.”

Or what about Cheryl Lowe (Memoria Press, Prima Latina, etc.)? She was also a homeschooling mom and her materials are reasonably priced, although not free. http://www.memoriapress.com/about/index.html#clowe

I don’t think the author of this article did enough research. I don’t even homeschool, and I am familiar with those two examples of homeschooling moms who developed their own curricula for other homeschooling moms for a reasonable price.

I think homeschooling moms must be inherently self-confident to take on the task of educating their children! Now I just wish my husband was on board and I’d be doing it, too.

First, “feral youth” is a very apt description! It is completely what I witness among parents and children today. This theory that “the kids will work it out among themselves” is complete bunk and I cringe any time I hear a parent say that. KIDS NEED PARENTAL GUIDANCE!!!! Parents leaving their kids to work it out among themselves does nothing but breed bullies and uncivilized behavior.

Second, I witness quite a bit of catty, bullying behavior and I live in a fairly wealthy white suburb with mostly stable two-parent homes. So it’s not just a ghetto thing.

My dad has always said that a “poor people exchange program” would be a good idea. Have some poor U.S. citizens change places with some poor people from India for a few weeks. Might get the U.S. citizens to stop complaining.

If parents were responsible enough in the first place to monitor what their children are seeing on television (or cut out t.v. completely) this wouldn’t be an issue.

That is another great suggestion! Thank you.

A woman I used to work with sumbitted a law school application essay that contained the word “pubic” instead of “public.” Needless to say, I don’t think she ever got in.

Great article. I recently read a book on homeschooling/classical education by Leigh Bortins called The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education. Bortins devotes an entire chapter to the subject of teaching geography. She suggests having your children start to copy maps with the goal of eventually being able to draw them freehand. I thought this was a great idea and plan to do it with my girls. Bortins argues that knowledge of geography is a good foundation for other subjects (e.g., current events, history) and that having a deep knowledge of geography will encourage a deeper interest in such subjects. And that memorizing facts is good for the mind and education in general.

Thanks for those great links! I am “after-schooling” for now (and hoping to homeschool at some point), and your links have some great resources.

Totally agree. Those are certainly bigger problems! I think the school is trying to control what they can because they really aren’t going to be able to do much about the issues you cited.

Two big reasons kids these days aren’t learning in school are because they:
-eat junk all day
-spend way too much time on tv/video games/computer, etc.

I don’t think it’s a bad policy to encourage kids to eat well and to ban sugary snacks.

If you don’t like this kind of intrusiveness, send your kids to a private school or homeschool them.

Right Field— TOO FUNNY (in a sad way, but I was laughing out loud). I have a great quote from a homeschooler, that I may have heard here on FR: “if there is anything you absolutely want your children to know, teach it to them at home.” I totally agree with the quote, but I didn’t think math facts would have to be one of those things!

Kudos to this principal! It’s about time adults stood up against this kind of stuff. Cell phones, texting, facebook, and other social networking media are preventing children from learning how to interact in a civil manner with each other. Kids are much bolder and meaner when they do not have to say things to someone else’s face. It is much easier for groups to gang up on others when it is online. This is totally unhealthy for children. Kids are not able to brush things off like an adult could. They take it very personally and it can be damaging. I think it is leaps and bounds beyond old school bullying and teasing that we experienced when we were kids.

Adults are not as likely to “bully” each other online and even if they do, they have the emotional fortitude to get over it (in most cases, at least!).

I cannot believe that schools even allow cell phones on school property. What a distraction from learning, in addition to being such a negative impact on developing social skills.

My kids won’t have cell phones or be allowed to do facebook, etc., until out of high school. Maybe a cell phone, but it will be one that can only dial one number (home).

I would not say this principal is being a busybody. It is his job and responsibility to oversee the development of his students (educational and emotional), and letting parents know that FB is detrimental to this and suggesting that they ban it is just speaking the truth. Good for him. Wish more would follow.

Agree 100% with your point that if you make a deal you must keep to it unless it is impossible to do so.

The problem is a very loose interpretation of the word “impossible” among people who want to rationalize things.