BRAIN DEAD - FREE RANGE - LAZE FAIRE PARENTS

There are parents who think that children should be allowed to roam free without supervision because they believe the world is safe and their kids need to experience being in the real world on their own.



What that translates to in the real world is that these parents are just too preoccupied with themselves to take the time to be involved in protecting their children from the unpredictable real world. It also means that these parents want to devote even less time to parenting and spend less money on baby sitters, nanny's, and the like.



Hiding behind catchy phrases like "free range parenting" will not  excuse them from their responsibilities to parent (protect) their children. These uninformed/naive parents argue that the world is safer today than in previous generations so what's the big deal?



Maybe they should take a little bit of their free time to educate themselves;


Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child becomes missing or is abducted.
In 2001, 840,279 people (adults and children) were reported missing to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The FBI estimates that 85 to 90 percent of those (roughly 750,000 people or 2,000 per day) reported missing were children. The vast majority of these cases are resolved within hours.

Based on the identity of the perpetrator, there are three distinct types of kidnapping: kidnapping by a relative of the victim or "family kidnapping" (49 percent), kidnapping by an acquaintance of the victim or "acquaintance kidnapping" (27 percent), and kidnapping by a stranger to the victim or "stranger kidnapping" (24 percent).

 

Stranger kidnapping victimizes more females than males, occurs primarily at outdoor locations, victimizes both teenagers and school-age children, is associated with sexual assaults in the case of girl victims and robberies in the case of boy victims (although not exclusively so), and is the type of kidnapping most likely to involve the use of a firearm.

Only about one child out of each 10,000 missing children reported to the local police is not found alive. However, about 20 percent of the children reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in nonfamily abductions are not found alive.

In 80 percent of abductions by strangers, the first contact between the child and the abductor occurs within a quarter mile of the child's home.

Most potential abductors grab their victims on the street or try to lure them into their vehicles.
About 74 percent of the victims of nonfamily child abduction are girls.

Acting quickly is critical. Seventy-four percent of abducted children who are ultimately murdered are dead within three hours of the abduction.

What Kind Of Parent Are You? The Debate Over 'Free-Range' Parenting