"It turns out that there have been zero child abductions in our town of nearly 75,000 people in the last 5 years (and likely before; I have lived here almost 40 years and recall no others)."

But that proves that it's a conspiracy!

(aarc=off)

"Either the woman is from Ontario, California or Ontario, Canada. Neither is exactly the environment in which they shot "The Wire.""

Elsewhere the blogger highlyirritable writes "I know that some kids have been back at school for weeks now, but here in Ontario we don’t go back until the Wednesday after Labour Day."

I'm guessing Canada.

Yes, in today's paper we had this:

Mother bear, two cubs draw crowd in north Boulder

"A Boulder resident says a less-than-urgent police response to a mother bear and two cubs in a tree on the 2100 block of Upland Avenue could have put the public at risk."

Apparently, we need the police to remind us to stay away from a mother bear and cubs.

Or as one commentator said,

It's like they always say, "If you see a mother bear and her cubs, gather around them."

Oh wait - they NEVER say that.

I love that the things my mom did when my sister and I were kids are now examples of controversial free-range parenting.

When I was as young as 6 (my sister would have been 4), my mom left us in the car while doing the grocery shopping whenever the weather was nice enough. She, cracked the windows, told us not to unlock the door for anyone but her, and warned us "don't make a mess," and would then disappear into the store for about half an hour.

If I had kids, I probably wouldn't do that -- not because I think it was unsafe, but because I'd worry that I'd have the cops called on me.

Yeah, we waited in the car all the time when our mom went into the store. If we were extra good, we'd get to listen to the radio too. We were also allowed out and basically had to be back before the streetlights came on (cliched I know).

The real trauma was that we had such a crappy car when we were kids. An avocado green pontiac station wagon. Blech.

It's only safe because of all the ninnies doing the job you slackers won't do. /sarcasm.

Meanwhile, people continue to do stupid and careless things that are actually unsafe. Like not vaccinating their kids or driving distracted.

My "favorite" is the "never leave your kids unattended in a car - anything could happen!"

Let's look at the "most commonly" cited (to me anyway) "anythings." This would be abduction, the kids starting/driving the car, and temperature-related injuries (esp heat).

Now, if the child is an infant and you are - say in your suburban driveway unloading groceries on a cool day and there aren't any strangers... what could really happen? In the event of an asteroid, the car is safer than not. Anyone who worries about abduction has no clue how difficult it is to get those seats out or to unbuckle the child. The child can't accidentally start the car (and any sane person would have their keys out of the car anyway).

Suppose the kid is older. If still in a child restraint, they aren't going to get out. There is a short period - especially for taller kids where they are in a booster and likely to get themselves out and into mischief. After that, they are old enough to behave.

But "anything could happen?" Sure. Just as much as "anything" could happen while watching TV (alien abductions included).

So, I'm firmly in the "are you serious?" camp. However, I won't do it because I too fear that some "well meaning" individual would call Child Protective Services.

On a related note - I had somebody tell me that going to a mailbox 20 feet from the house was a horrible risk - what if the child fell and was hurt and you weren't there for several minutes (how long does it take to open a mailbox???)? I'm thinking - nothing worse than if I was in the shower or on the toilet... or on the other side of a large house.

This same person self-righteously said she takes "zero" risks with her kids. I'm going - do they ever go in cars?? Eat? Go to school? Climb anything as dangerous as playground equipment?

I'm reminded of the time my mom told me, when I was, oh, almost a year old, and my brother was around 2 and a half. I was in my crib sleeping, he was in his bed for a nap (not sure if he was sleeping; anyway, Mom went outside in the back yard to hang some washing on the clothesline (remember clotheslines?), and started talking to one of the neighbors. She guestimates she was out back maybe 15, 20 minutes, and comes back into the house, to find my brother sitting in front of the cabinet under the sink, with white shoe polish all over himself! Laughing, the little stinker was, because he had put some on me while I was still sleeping! Mom said she almost fainted, but then couldn't help herself and was laughing while she cleaned him up, until she found the bottle and the rest of the shoe polish in my crib! It wasn't a lot, but still...

And hey, we all lived to tell the tale. Imagine!

Flynne, that's hilarious. I feel like these are the stories parents used to share and have a good laugh over. Nowadays, if a parent were to share this story with the neighborhood moms, they'd be accused of child neglect! "What do you MEAN you left the house without your baby strapped to you???"

"What do you MEAN you left the house without your baby strapped to you???"
________________________________

Yeah, and she'd have had to carry BOTH babies.

But seriously, though - infants can start choking in their cribs - you never know when - and it seems as though at least every month, I hear of some toddler who got out of the house (often well after midnight) and into traffic and/or freezing weather, though the kid usually gets rescued. The point is that it isn't just the MAIN door that needs to be locked well enough that a toddler can't open it from the inside; one has to remember the need for things like gates at the top of stairs, etc.

Anyone can choke anytime. I have a horrible habit of swallowing food or drink the wrong way about once a month.

Frankly, I'm not going to be shocked when some poor parent has a kid die in their crib and is charged with negligent homicide or something because the parent was asleep - at night - instead of hovering over the crib in case something might happen (which would, of course, make driving exceptionally dangerous, but let's not think logically). When babies die it is horrible, but so is living with paranoia (an entirely different type of horrible, but still rather horrible).