"She is way too young to be walking this distance by herself," said the cops.
Overbearing CDC guidance, pointless calls to the police, and more.
Pearisburg, Virginia, social services says kids must be watched—at all times—until they turn 13.
"My opinion is no exceptions should be made," says the chief of the police.
Heather Wallace plead guilty to child endangerment and can no longer work with kids.
A dimming sky and overprotective parents make it harder for today's kids to observe the great expanse.
"Keep safe from COVID by following CDC advice to wear a mask."
"Where is she going to put the grandkids if she doesn't create a bunkbed situation?"
"I'm skeptical that [dealers] would try to target children where there is not an existing market," says Sally Satel.
You're more likely to be struck by a meteor than to have your kid abducted by a stranger.
A Tucson mother who briefly left two kids alone while she ran an errand won a temporary reprieve in court.
The mayor promised to reopen city playgrounds, but more of them are currently closed than before he took office.
"There's currently no way for me to even know where that buffer zone is."
"It may be the case that [some American] children give up control of their attention when it's always managed by an adult," say some experts.
A kid roaming the streets on his own is like an endangered species: once common, now rare, and worth trying to bring back.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis thinks drag shows represent "child endangerment."
Many parents are on the child abuse and neglect registry, and they don't even know it.
"I really think I'm allowed to stay here," I explained, in vain.
Yours truly made the list.
"The suspect then intervened, deployed pepper spray and sprayed the victim, before fleeing the scene on foot," according to the police.
In Japan, even very young children are seen as capable.
"We certainly don't want parents getting in trouble because their kids were playing on the playground," says Gov. Jared Polis
"There are no known stories of any abductions here," says Anna Hershberger.
Perhaps our culture is accidentally creating PTSD by expecting it, assuming that no one could possibly emerge from a trauma psychologically intact.
The district attorney who put Melissa Lucio away is now behind bars himself.
"If this study doesn't put the nail in the coffin of academic training to little children, it's hard to imagine what will," says psychologist Peter Gray.
"I almost don't have words for how low it made me feel," says Melissa Henderson.
A seventh grade health teacher says that masks and lockdowns have made her students less resilient.
"You could hear they were trying not to laugh."
Suffice it to say, the pandemic did not lead to great childhood independence policies.
"The market was asking that anyone who didn't need to go into the store to please stay outside," she says.
How a bestselling author accused the wrong man of rape
"These are the same people who could not approve an at-home COVID-19 test for a year."
"This is fantastic progress in understanding childhood as the right time for children to learn to recognize and mitigate risk."
The myth of the candy poisoner
"When my daughter was 12 she'd walk down the streets of Shanghai to get donuts," says the mom, Megan McMurry.
"Like an addictive drug, the reassurances had less effect each time."
"I have my First Amendment rights," says Hank Robar.
"The next step, after tickets, it goes to child abuse."
The men must keep masturbation diaries, wear ankle monitors, and even use penile circumference gauges.
But shaken baby syndrome has become a doubtful diagnosis in the ensuing years.
"We thought they helped people."
Something about camping seems to turn 21st century worriers into parents with positively Spielbergian nonchalance.
"I didn't think it was a big deal," says Kim Blalock. "My son is perfectly fine."
Smartphones and stranger danger keep kids inside, but the laws are improving.
"You had the most right-wing members of the legislature signed on with most left-wing members."
