The Onion Joins Reason in Bashing the War on Moms

Reason’s reporting on the
government’s war on parents who give their kids a modicum of
freedom and responsibility has brought scrutiny to an
out-of-control nanny state. Now
even
The Onion is making fun of cops and busybodies who treat
parents like criminals for letting their kids play by
themselves.

The Onion’s latest infographic asks “Should Parents Who
Let Kids Play Outside Unsupervised Be Arrested?” Some hilarious
answers:

Absolutely not. I only support it when people get arrested for
things that could never happen to me.

Yes, it’s much more responsible to leave your children
unsupervised at home.

No way. When I was a kid, we played outside by ourselves and
everyone except Brian came home just fine.

Best of all:

Of course. You can never have too many reasons to arrest people
who can’t afford child care.

Reason’s Lenore Skenazy has been documenting this
exact phenomenon: Consider the case of
Debra Harrell, a low-income mother who was arrested for letting
her daughter play at the park while she worked at McDonald’s.

But it’s not just the financially disadvantaged—parents of all
stripes are threatened by the mindset that an independent child is
an endangered one. Recently, children’s author
Kari Anne Roy was investigated by Child Protective Services
because a neighbor reported her for letting her child play on a
public bench within sight of the house.

Read more from Reason on the War on Moms here.