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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Transient who shot girlfriend for nagging in Rogue River convicted of murder Rogue Disposal considers rate increase Man jailed for allegedly firing shots in trailer park Second man sentenced for robbing elderly couple outside Talent Hunter to earn Eagle Scout honor Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Transient who shot girlfriend for nagging in Rogue River convicted of murder Man jailed for allegedly firing shots in trailer park Second man sentenced for robbing elderly couple outside Talent Elk poacher ordered to pay $17,000 for Lake Creek Road area crimes Emergency Services, May 14 Politics and Elections Arthur I. Cyr: Camp David summit will not help Mideast stability Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline opponents rally in Medford BREAKING: Baltimore prosecutor charges officers in Freddie Gray's death Earthquakes hit regularly in Medford (Oklahoma, that is) Education South Medford, Ashland high schools earn national honors Medford garage sale will put books in African kids' hands Medford schools restore parent-teacher conferences Latino parents: More bilingual staff needed in Medford schools Medford schools still filling admin roles Environment Jackson County declares drought disaster Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection Crater Lake may soon have China connection State waives college placement tests for students who hit high marks Stopping fire in its tracks State News Panel sends Jackson, Josephine drought declarations to governor Court overturns $85 million award for Oregon soldiers Oregon families should get $284 in tax rebates next year Pot tourism, one way or another, expected in Oregon Roseburg City Council holsters decision on garage-based gun store Nation - World There's a $10 million precious stone hidden in plain sight at Grand Central Obituaries Katie Beth (Lehnhardt) Marical Russell Dale Williams Keith D. Randahl Verla Jean Rametes Death Notices Weather Photo Galleries Since You Asked Videos Web Cams Mail Tribune 100 Shareable Check out top import and export for every U.S. state Patriots fan sets up GoFundMe page to help pay for team's Deflategate fine Sports Latest Stories Djokovic tested by Bellucci; Murray, Serena withdraw From super sub to superstar Wu off to fast start in NCAA regional Firing Line seeks to end runner-up stigma in Preakness Guthrie helps Royals top Rangers Varsity 541 College Sports Wu off to fast start in NCAA regional Beavers tie school home run record in rout A Wise freshman leads the Ducks Baldovino, Concordia upset No. 1 Oklahoma City Northwestern’s Wu chosen for NCAA field Pro Sports Djokovic tested by Bellucci; Murray, Serena withdraw From super sub to superstar Firing Line seeks to end runner-up stigma in Preakness Guthrie helps Royals top Rangers With 30 drivers for 3 spots, Showdown looms at Charlotte Community Sports Bailey picks up modified win Business Latest Stories Blog: Cash deals for homes inches toward normal levels Tourism stronger than ever in Southern Oregon Medford airport still flying high with record passenger counts Erickson reports $75 million loss in 1st quarter Cars We Remember: Noted musician unravels 55-year Nash Rambler mystery Real Estate News Single-family home sales take off Never enough: New Starbucks proposed on Barnett Road in Medford Jackson County debt-ridden homeowners have an option New home in an old house Naumes plans custom-crush winery in former packing house People In Business People in Business Transportation Tourism stronger than ever in Southern Oregon Medford airport still flying high with record passenger counts Erickson finds room to work at Medford airport Lithia Motors nets $40.7 million in first quarter Lithia Motors reports second-best quarter ever Agriculture 1-800Flowers.com reports $10.5 million loss in third quarter Naumes plans custom-crush winery in former packing house Opinion Latest Granlund cartoon: Kim Jong Un and snoozing Dianne Williamson: Showing cards necessary in honest race talks Arthur I. Cyr: Camp David summit will not help Mideast stability Our View: City should let SkyPark project move ahead George Will: In childhood, risk is inherent Editorials Our View: City should let SkyPark project move ahead Our View: E-cigarette bill is half right, half wrong Our View: Abundant water no excuse for waste Our View: Mental health funding should be a priority Other Views: Court ruling means PERS reform is dead Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, May 14 Letters to the Editor, May 13 Letters to the Editor, May 12 Letters to the Editor, May 11 Letters to the Editor, May 10 Columns Arthur I. Cyr: Camp David summit will not help Mideast stability George Will: In childhood, risk is inherent Dana Milbank: Power to the populists Kathleen Parker: Defining deity down: Changing others' religion Guest Opinion: Ample water? Think again Guest Opinions Guest Opinion: Ample water? Think again Guest Opinion: Oregon mothers need much more than flowers Guest Opinion: Child poverty and the Schneider Children’s Center Guest Opinion: Animal-killing program pulls wool over taxpayers' eyes Guest Opinion: Uniting to restore our sovereignty to we, the people Lifestyle Latest stories Betty Montgomery: Longleaf pines making a comeback Season Stepp: Use pink lemonade in recipes William Keesler: Home alone with Arty Pergola, arbor, gazebo: Learn the differences Marketta Gregory: God doesn’t need our polished marketing Food Season Stepp: Use pink lemonade in recipes Quick, easy, versatile Page H. Onorato: Cookbook offers old friend in the kitchen today A classic dish: Celery Victor Tammy Kelly: Add springtime crunch with cucumbers Home and Garden Betty Montgomery: Longleaf pines making a comeback Pergola, arbor, gazebo: Learn the differences Dear Monty: Five tips for companies to reduce relocation costs Options abound for gardens in shady spots Tricks and tips to enlarge your small bath Health Brent St. Germain: Weight loss goes to the dogs Community blog: Don't Fall for This Part 2 Health Watch: Easy tips to drink more water throughout the day New cardiac rehab center opens at Asante RRMC Community blog: You and Me at 83... Hiking Biking Faith Religion Briefs: Friday, May 8 Religion Briefs: Friday, May 1 Religion Briefs: Friday, April 24 Religion Briefs: Friday, April 17 Milestones and Achievements Bukair-Hinkle Wedding: Stephanie Anne Obad and Mark Douglass Schmor Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection Drones helping create unique wedding photos Pick your favorite wedding flowers Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Steve Poltz, Grant-Lee Phillips at Old Ashland Armory 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' Flowers, art and music highlight Art in Bloom 5 picks for live entertainment Live Music in Local Clubs Theater 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' REVIEW: Randall Theatre's 'Little Shop of Horrors' a rollicking good time REVIEW: Carson, Patton shine in 'Arsenic and Old Lace' Some Oregon Shakespeare Festival crew members seek to unionize Randall Theatre stages 'Little Shop of Horrors' Music Steve Poltz, Grant-Lee Phillips at Old Ashland Armory Victor D. Infante: If loving bad pop songs is wrong ... The Farr Side: Contest open for singer-songwriters Live Music in Local Clubs Peter Rowan, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys at Rootsfest Community Events 5 things to see at Art in Bloom Flowers, art and music highlight Art in Bloom Hip-Hop Poetry Open Mic at OSF's Black Swan in Ashland Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Master Gardener Spring Fair at The Expo Movies Your A-to-Z guide to the ‘Mad Max’ franchise Movie review: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ will leave your inner 12-year-old giggling with glee Movie review: ‘Hot Pursuit’ is a hot mess George Miller returns to his ‘Mad Max’ roots Tom Hardy adapts to life as Mad Max Dining Quick, easy, versatile April 2015 Restaurant Inspections Restaurant inspections: May 10, 2015 Wood-fired pies at Peace of Pizza Trium is a classic example of a boutique winery Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obits Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Special Sections Business Services NEWS NOW Panel sends Jackson, Josephine drought declarations to governor ... Rogue Disposal considers rate increase ... Man jailed for allegedly firing shots in trailer park ... Panel sends Jackson, Josephine drought declarations to governor ... Rogue Disposal considers rate increase ... Man jailed for allegedly firing shots in trailer park ... ANOTHER VIEW George Will: In childhood, risk is inherent MailTribune.com Writer Posted May. 14, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted May. 14, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Controversies about "free-range parenting" illuminate today's scarred cultural landscape. Neighbors summon police in response to parenting choices the neighbors disapprove. Government extends its incompetence with an ever-broader mission of "child protection." And these phenomena are related to campus hysteria about protecting infantilized undergraduates from various menaces, including uncongenial ideas. The Meitivs live in suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, which is a bedroom for many Washington bureaucrats who make their living minding other people's business. The Meitivs, to encourage independence and self-reliance, let their 10- and 6-year-old children walk home alone from a park about a mile from their home. For a second time, their children were picked up by police, this time three blocks from home. After confinement in a squad car for almost three hours, during which the police never called or allowed the children to call the Meitivs, the children were given to social workers who finally allowed the parents to reclaim their children at about 11 p.m. on a school night. The Meitivs' Kafkaesque experiences concluded with them accused of "unsubstantiated" neglect. Today's saturating media tug children beyond childhood prematurely, but not to maturity. Children are cosseted by intensive parenting that encourages passivity and dependency, and stunts their abilities to improvise, adapt and weigh risks. Mark Hemingway, writing at The Federalist, asks: "You know what it's called when kids make mistakes without adult supervision and have to wrestle with the resulting consequences? Growing up. " Increased knowledge of early childhood development has produced increased belief in a "science" of child rearing. This has increased intolerance of parenting that deviates from norms that are as changeable as most intellectual fads. "Intensive parenting" is becoming a government-enforced norm. Read "The day I left my son in the car" (Salon.com), Kim Brooks' essay on her ordeal after leaving her 4-year-old in the car as she darted into a store for about five minutes. Writing in the Utah Law Review, David Pimentel of Ohio Northern University notes that at a moment when "children have never been safer," government is abandoning deference to parents' discretion in child rearing. In 1925, the Supreme Court affirmed the right of parents "to direct the upbringing and education of children." Today, however, vague statutes that criminalize child "neglect" or "endangerment" undermine the social legitimacy of parental autonomy. And they ignore the reality that almost every decision a parent makes involves risks. Let your child ride a bike to school, or strap her into a car for the trip? Which child is more at risk, the sedentary one playing video games and risking obesity, or the one riding a bike? It is, Pimentel says, problematic for the legal system to enforce cultural expectations when expectations, partly shaped by media hysteria over rare dangers such as child abductions, are in constant flux. Time was, colleges and universities acted in loco parentis  to moderate undergraduates' comportment, particularly regarding sex and alcohol. Institutions have largely abandoned this, having decided that students are mature possessors of moral agency. But institutions have also decided that although undergraduates can cope with hormones and intoxicants, they must be protected from discomforting speech, which must be regulated by codes and confined to "free speech zones." Uncongenial ideas must be foreshadowed by "trigger warnings," lest students, who never were free-range children and now are as brittle as pretzels, crumble. Young people shaped by smothering parents come to college not really separated from their "helicopter parents." Such students come convinced that the world is properly devoted to guaranteeing their serenity, and that their fragility entitles them to protection from distressing thoughts. As Penn State historian Gary Cross says, adolescence is being redefined to extend well into the 20s, and the "clustering of rites of passage" into adulthood — marriage, childbearing, permanent employment — "has largely disappeared." Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cross says that "delayed social adulthood" means that "in 2011, almost a fifth of men between 25 and 34 still lived with their parents," where many play video games: "The average player is 30 years old." The percentage of men in their early 40s who have never married "has risen fourfold to 20 percent." In the 1950s, Cross says, with Jack Kerouac and Hugh Hefner, "the escape from male responsibility became a kind of subculture." Today, oldies radio and concerts by septuagenarian rockers nurture the cult of youth nostalgia among people who, wearing jeans, T-shirts and sneakers all the way, have slouched from adolescence to Social Security without ever reaching maturity. George Will's email address is [email protected]. 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