The Luxury of American Parents’ Worries!

The Luxury of American Parents’ Worries!: "

Hi Readers! This came in as a comment this morning, and if it doesn’t lend a little perspective, nothing will. – L.

Dear Free-Range Kids: I am currently deployed to Afghanistan on my third tour, and I am part of the new female engagement teams. These teams consist of medical, security and intelligence specialist. We go directly into villages, unaccompanied by male troops, and meet face to face with the women and children of the villages. We provide medical care, work with the women to build skills so that they can help support their families, and listen to the concerns of the women and children and try to help. I can promise you, that in the grand scheme of things, bugs, babysitting, and the cold are such silly things to focus on as a society. [Topics of fear recently discussed here on Free-Range Kids.]

In my three deployments, here are a few of the children that I have had the honor of meeting and the privilege of helping:

*8-year-old Avizeh, who lost her leg last year because of a Soviet-era mine. She walks to school 2 miles on crutches every day, because she fears that when we are no longer in the country, she will be denied an education, as her mother was.

*12-year-old Dehqan, who is the sole caretaker of his 5-year-old brother and 3-year-old sister. He lost both parents to cholera, and he works 12 hours a day caring for the goats and crops with only the 5-year-old for help.

*And finally, 16-year-old Belahrah, who lost her sight at age 4 because of a infection that would have been cured with a simple penicillian shot, which she didn’t receive because the male doctor refused to treat her because the Taliban demanded that all women must be treated by female doctors. But 12 years ago, women weren’t allowed to attend school, let alone become doctors. So female doctors are extremely rare.

These are the things that should worry parents, not the petty things we have focused on in the States. We don’t have to worry about our child losing a limb to a mine left behind 25 years ago, or going blind simply because the most basic of medical care is denied on the basis of gender. When you have a mother kissing your hand over and over and crying with gratitude because you showed up in her village with a simple supply of DTP vaccines, you realize the other worries are just silly. Afghanis would laugh at our Free-Range ideas, because here, all the children are Free-Range — and then some! – Kristi

She then added in a follow-up comment:

I didn’t mean to imply that our [American] problems are silly. I was referring to the … attempts to protect our children from all possible risks, and the overreaction to every perceived danger…. I will always be an outspoken proponent of common sense parenting and fight against the helicoptering mentality because I have witnessed what children are capable of in the most horrific of environments and am confident that the average American child can survive and thrive without all of the silly rules and safety regulations authorities seem determined to force upon them.

Kristi has served 18 years’ active duty in the United States Army. She is currently on her third deployment to Afghanistan. She is soldier, wife, and mother to five Free-Range children.

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You are doing fine.

You are doing fine.: "

We all get worried that we’re missing out on opportunities. That someone else knows more than we do. That our instincts aren’t good enough. That everyone else is a “professional”. That if only an “expert” would help us.

There are two types of “experts” in the world:

1. The ones that are happy to take your money to reassure you that they will HANDLE IT.

2. The ones that are just as nervous as you are.

The secret is that there are no “secrets.” We all know what to do. If you think you do, but aren’t sure or need confirmation, you’re worrying instead of doing.

You will never be able to find your way through the woods at night. You can, however, find your way through the small area that your flashlight illuminates. Doing that, over and over again, will get you farther than standing at the start, attempting to squint into the darkness and fretting.

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8-bit Washington DC

8-bit Washington DC: "

These maps are very odd. At first, I thought, why bother? Is there really a need for low-res maps based on 1980s video game graphic style? Then I typed in my address and realized how much was really going on. It’s still pretty silly, but it’s an impressive silly – and not everything has to be utilitarian. Available for 10 different cities.

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Awesome, except for the fact that they don't have any cities I'm actually familiar with in there.

Also, the link is http://8bitcity.com/map

Eating Out—More Lessons from France

Eating Out—More Lessons from France: "So once again, consider the French at your next restaurant outing. If you love the bread they serve, eat it! But maybe skip the potato, rice or pasta they serve you in addition. Slow the pace and linger over your meal. And if you’re full, give yourself permission to get dessert—tomorrow!"

That right there is actually an excellent rule of thumb. One starch per meal - either the bread or the potato, not both...says she who has been known to order mashed potatoes and fries as her "two sides" on the dinner menu...

Though I would love to be able to sit at a table in a restaurant for 2 1/2 hours without being subtly bullied to leave....

Every Time Zone Makes Elegant Sense of International Time [Webapp]

Every Time Zone Makes Elegant Sense of International Time [Webapp]: "Managing two or three time zones in your head should be easy, but the brain just doesn't seem to like living in more than one place. Every Time Zone helps make sense of the time, and date, anywhere in the world. More »


Ohh yes. I've been waiting for something like this. It could be a little easier to read, I suppose, but... Yes.

WHY WE CURSE.

WHY WE CURSE.: "

The New York Times recently had a symposium headlined "Why Do Educated People Use Bad Words?" For the most part it's fairly predictable thumbsucking on the part of a bunch of intelligent people (John McWhorter, Deborah Tannen, Tony McEnery, Lee Siegel, Ilya Somin, and Timothy Jay) who don't really have anything interesting to say about the topic ("swear words are linked to emotion in a visceral way"—well, duh), but McEnery, who wrote the classic Swearing in English: Bad Language, Purity and Power from 1586 to the Present, has a nice summary of some of his findings:

Purity of speech has been associated for so long with power in public life in the English speaking world that it is almost inconceivable that it could ever have been different. Yet it was — a powerful example of this comes from James I’s participation in an ecclesiastical debate in the early 17th century. When he said that he did not give a “turd” for the argument of a leading cleric, James did not attract opprobrium. He attracted praise — those present were impressed by his debating skills, not appalled at his choice of words. This is unimaginable now. How did the change come about?

Starting in the late 17th century a movement swept the English speaking world which firmly linked purity of speech with power. Groups like the Society for the Reformation of Manners in the British Isles and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in the colonies began to fight against sin in all of its forms by preaching and prosecution. A main target for them was bad language....

The hypocrisy of public purity but private impurity also has deep roots. Eighteenth-century campaigners gave up on any attempt to regulate behavior in the private sphere, quickly accepting that people could use whatever language they wished in private as long as their public speech was pure. It is to such campaigners that we can ascribe examples such as Richard Nixon, who simultaneously managed to crusade for an improvement in public morals while revealing himself on the White House tapes to have a full command of bad language.

The campaigns of the late 17th and early 18th century that linked bad language with moral degeneracy, low education and general brutishness were incredibly successful in forming views of bad language that endure in the English language to this day. They were also successful at establishing the nascent middle classes of the English speaking world as a locus of purity and hence a locus of power....(I stole from McEnery shamelessly in the introduction to the English section of my own curses book.)

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