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MotherBear wrote:
My problem is that it depends on the other parents on the street having a lick of sense. Some do, and those have my full blessing. Others... well, I'd just as soon they keep their distance.

I recently put up with a lady criticizing me (loudly) for helping my 4-year-old son find a lost part of a toy in the dentist's waiting room. He noticed it was missing and didn't want to leave without it. He was a little tearful, but asked nicely for help finding it. He was helping me look under chairs and tables and things, and she kept telling me that he just needed to learn that if he loses something it's gone and life is tough. Ok, sure -- if it's lost I'm not going to rush out and buy him a new one because yes, there are consequences when you're careless with your things. But I also want him to see that first we try to fix the problem rather than just throw the toy away and call it a loss. And I want him to see that in our family, we help each other. And when he grows up, I want him to be the kind of person who would help a small child find a lost toy rather than make fun of him for it. (By the way, it was under the couch right behind her feet; we only found it because she was called for her appointment and had to get up. Suspicious? I'll never know.) I was really bothered by her attitude. If the village is made up of people like her, no thanks, I'll do it myself.

Again, there are lots of people I feel otherwise about -- most of the families at church, my extended family (on both sides) and some of my neighbors, for starters. When the "village" is our friends, family, neighbors and other people who are part of our lives, I welcome their input. But when the "village" starts to refer to the general public or, better yet, to government entities, I start to have problems with it.