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Second-guessing other people's parenting is the hot new American hobby
(Choreograph/Getty Images)

Second-guessing other people's parenting is the hot new American hobby

Mike Opelka chats with Lenore Skenazy, author of Free Range Kids, about the expansion of helicopter parenting and the resulting lack of self-reliance exhibited by today's children. Lenore points out that total strangers now feel entitled to opine on — and even intervene in — other people's parenting decisions.

A recent story out of Long Island illustrates the trend: a couple left their young child in the car with the sunroof cracked while they ran into a store to buy Christmas lights, and a passerby who saw the child asleep in the car assumed he or she was unconscious and called the police. This resulted in the fire department breaking the car window, paramedics taking the child to the emergency room, and police arresting the father for child endangerment.

"I really do think cell phones are the reason we're hearing about so many of these stories of police intervention in parenting decisions. It's because people think, 'Oh, my God. I'm a hero. I'm about to save a child. All I have to do is call the police,'" Lenore explains. "Sometimes they don't even stay. They don't really care; they just care that they did something."

Listen live to Pure Opelka weekdays 7–10pm ET & Saturdays 6–9am ET on TheBlaze Radio Network.

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