What's really sad is that I have no problem believing that this story is actually true and not some satirical piece out of The Onion.

I was walking to and from school in kindergarten at age 5 and all through elementary and junior high, both of which were slightly over a mile from our house.

???
My grade school didn't have buses. All of the hundreds of us (k-8) walked to and from school, every day. I started at barely 5 years old and my distance was 10 city blocks.

Perhaps another story on the same page explains how some police persons arrive at the need to detain any child seen in public.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/41414675...full-recovery/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips

 

???
My grade school didn't have buses. All of the hundreds of us (k-8) walked to and from school, every day. I started at barely 5 years old and my distance was 10 city blocks.

Yea. Five miles. Barefoot. In the snow. Uphill. Both ways.

Credit: Bill Cosby (IIRC)

 

Perhaps another story on the same page explains how some police persons arrive at the need to detain any child seen in public.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/41414675...full-recovery/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips

Cops have been attacked by 'criminals' forever. It's another one of those perceived increases in danger but the actual danger is much less today. The 1920s were the deadliest decade for LE, levels have been dropping since the 1990s.

 

I love the way you guys are diverting attention away from the idea that a LEO could be as fit for duty as ever after taking a bullet to the head.

 

That is a very good representation of how me and my wife differ in views of how our daughter should be raised.

For my wife any unperceivable risk, no matter how absurd or imagined, is too much of a risk to ignore where I follow the let her figure things out herself and keep a watchful eye on her from a distance approach.

I'm not suggesting you start a fight with the wife, but she needs to understand the very real risk that your daughter will not learn crucial skills if she is isolated in this way. More and more studies are detecting this problem. Kids are not learning to manage risk because they never experience any. When they do encounter risk, as is inevitable in later life, the stakes are so much higher than when they are little. Little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems.

 

CPS reportedly followed up and forced the parents to sign a safety plan acknowledging that they would not let the kids go unsupervised. Alexander told the paper he resisted at first, but CPS threatened that if they refused, the kids would be removed from the home. He signed.

Chances are it wasn't CPS making the threat so much as the guy they pay to drive around and get folks to sign on the dotted line. My wife primarily works family law cases for Legal Aid (as in a real Legal Aid office, not the ridiculously inept strawman you see on Law & Order), so she handles a lot of custody cases for poor folks, many of them involving child services. Anyway, the signature man who works in this area is a big, intimidating guy with a reputation for bullying people into signing documents without letting them read them. He generally gets away with it too, partly because the single poor women he's mainly dealing with can't afford a negative report from anyone to child services no matter how baseless (many of them also don't speak English -- and yes, they're here legally), and partly because child services loves the hell out of the guy's results so they're willing to ignore the few people who do file a complaint about him.

 

Kids are not learning to manage risk because they never experience any. When they do encounter risk, as is inevitable in later life, the stakes are so much higher than when they are little. Little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems.

Perfect example:
Last June, I forgot I was on a 2 step ladder while chiseling out a notch in a door frame. I stepped back to get a different view of my work. On the way down, I threw out both arms, hit the kitchen counter, and thus distributed the forces. The only damage was my shame about neglecting my safety.

Five days ago, the neighbor lady caught her flip-flop on the wooden deck. She fell forward down a 2 step stairway with hand rails on both sides. She did not attempt to grab anything, tuck and roll, or anything else. She hit the concrete like a tree being felled and broke her face.

If you make sure your kids never fall down, they won't know how to fall down safely.

 

I'm not suggesting you start a fight with the wife, but she needs to understand the very real risk that your daughter will not learn crucial skills if she is isolated in this way. More and more studies are detecting this problem. Kids are not learning to manage risk because they never experience any. When they do encounter risk, as is inevitable in later life, the stakes are so much higher than when they are little. Little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems.

Believe me I don't need help getting a fight started with my wife. She is usually all too happy to start on on her own without me having a clue what it may be about.

Risk assessment and reaction is exactly what I am teaching our daughter.

My wife however seems to feel that teaching her that she is some special princess that needs to be catered to and rescued is her goal being that is what she wanted for her life and did not get it.

I have a 6 year old and a 39 year old in my house and most days both throw the exact same fits over the exact same stupid crap. The 6 year old is forgivable due to age and not knowing better. The other not so much.

 

I have a 6 year old and a 39 year old in my house and most days both throw the exact same fits over the exact same stupid crap. The 6 year old is forgivable due to age and not knowing better. The other not so much.

I woulda kicked the 39 y.o. out 21 years ago...

 

About a week ago I wrote something that seems intelligent in retrospect.

"Some people come with these features already installed."

 

My wife however seems to feel that teaching her that she is some special princess that needs to be catered to and rescued is her goal being that is what she wanted for her life and did not get it.

My wife has taken up Life Coaching as a hobby/business. She holds sessions with rooms full of unhappy (mostly older) women that have spent their lives looking for that princess existence, of course without success. One of them, a friend, lost her husband some years ago. My wife (who grew up chopping wood in the Colorado mountains to help keep the family from freezing) was horrified to learn that her friend couldn't pump her own gas, put air in a tire, handle her finances, or myriad other things.

It's taken years of "empowerment training" to help this person realize they can be powerful and not pitiful, and she is now an infinitely happier person. Part of her would jump at the chance to be a princess again but in the meanwhile she has a life.

 

I woulda kicked the 39 y.o. out 21 years ago...

Unfortunately the 39 year old is my wife and as tempting as she can make the concept feel some days I am in it for her daughter's long term good. Maybe I can't change ol mom but I can at least prevent her daughter from following in the exact same mindset.

My wife has taken up Life Coaching as a hobby/business. She holds sessions with rooms full of unhappy (mostly older) women that have spent their lives looking for that princess existence, of course without success. One of them, a friend, lost her husband some years ago. My wife (who grew up chopping wood in the Colorado mountains to help keep the family from freezing) was horrified to learn that her friend couldn't pump her own gas, put air in a tire, handle her finances, or myriad other things.

It's taken years of "empowerment training" to help this person realize they can be powerful and not pitiful, and she is now an infinitely happier person. Part of her would jump at the chance to be a princess again but in the meanwhile she has a life.

Yea I into this for about 5 years of empowerment training on my wife. Unfortunately she has fought it every step of the way.

 

My wife has taken up Life Coaching as a hobby/business. She holds sessions with rooms full of unhappy (mostly older) women that have spent their lives looking for that princess existence, of course without success. One of them, a friend, lost her husband some years ago. My wife (who grew up chopping wood in the Colorado mountains to help keep the family from freezing) was horrified to learn that her friend couldn't pump her own gas, put air in a tire, handle her finances, or myriad other things.

It's taken years of "empowerment training" to help this person realize they can be powerful and not pitiful, and she is now an infinitely happier person. Part of her would jump at the chance to be a princess again but in the meanwhile she has a life.

I liked that!

 

After all the permition slips are returned, the price of the cookies will probably come out of the teachers pocket.