

Is Your Child Ready for First Grade: 1979 Edition (2011) - ern
http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition/

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ern
_8\. Can he travel alone in the neighborhood (four to eight blocks) to store,
school, playground, or to a friend 's home?_

Hell no.

Even though there was a lot of lead in the air back in 1979, today there is a
risk of skin cancer. Sunblock may contain phthalates.

And what if a truck drives past? I'm sure diesel exhaust must have been shown
to cause cognitive danage in a rat study somewhere.

If your kid gets thirsty, they need to drink water (fruit juices contain
arsenic and soft drinks have artificial colourants) ; but water is
contaminated with hormones-it needs to be filtered at home. And only a glass
bottle will do- phthalates again. But it's difficult for a six year old to lug
glass around.

Finally, what if there is lead in rice [1] or arsenic, and the friend has some
at home?

No, I don't actually think like this, but with the the levels of
scaremongering around, parenting in Internet age is quickly turning into an
unpleasant and fear-filled experience. I'm not sure if it'a grant-hungry
scientists or a media desperate for hits, but helicopter parents are partially
manufactured by society. Overprotective parents from when I grew up in the
80's would be regarded as borderline-neglectful by today's norms.

[1] In 2013, thanks to a study linked to from the front page of HN, I stopped
feeding my kids rice for a while. It later turned out that the study was
totally broken. Since then I've made a point of flagging toxicology studies
off the front page, along with most health stories.

