Welcome to the bottom of the barrel! That’s where we find ourselves in this particular FoxNews’ segment (see below), as the anchor casts about for some reason — even a completely amorphous, garbled reason — to foment what Prof. Harold Hill called “MASS-TERIA!”
And yet — he is foiled! As you’ll see, Hadley Heath Manning of the Independent Women’s Forum, deftly defends Free-Range / Let Grow parenting…and all parents. Sunnily she pivots from the hoary, “But couldn’t something bad happen…?” to remind the host that what kids need is someone who loves them and sets some boundaries. No one needs one particular type of parent, or parenting.
For years — maybe forever — it has been all too easy for bottom-scrapers to pretend that Free-Range Parenting is some kind of crazy cult that gives kids poison-dipped spears and tells them to go outside and play — after they’ve cursed their parents, scarfed a few pot brownies, and decapitated their Barbies.
Interestingly, Free-Ranging has also been accused of being an elitist movement (even though ALL children need some free time and free play) AND, as the anchor here suggests, the slippery slope to Communism. All things to all people!
Of course, controversy has been very good for Free-Range Kids. But the constant din of, “If you give kids any independence you obviously don’t care if they die (or eat junk food),” is getting old. It’s almost as if the anchor himself wasn’t sure where to go with the baseless bashing.
Anyway, he didn’t get far!