No one has ever accused me of being an overprotective parent.
I use hotel babysitting services in random foreign cities. I let my six year old walk alone to the corner store. Once, when my youngest was a newborn, I paid the bill in a pizza restaurant and loaded his two older brothers into car only to have the waitress come running out behind me with a car seat in her arms and a look of pure horror on her face. ?I think you forgot your baby!? she cried. To which I responded, ?Seriously" Again"?
But I do have one rule many of my parent friends think is extreme. It?s simple and I enforce it where ever possible, virtually without exception, and intend to do so until my kids are well into their teens. It is this: Never alone in a room with a man. Never alone in a room with a male teacher. Or a male doctor. Or a housepainter or a lawyer or birthday party clown. I don?t care if you?re dying of thirst and he?s the coolest, nicest soccer coach in league with a fridge full of ice cold Gatorade. ?Grab your teammate and then get your drink from the coach?s office,? I tell my kids. I am honest with them about my rule and the reasons why. Some men are not to be trusted. And frankly, if the coach is a conscientious guy (which he probably is), he?ll know not to invite a kid into a room alone in the first place.
There are exceptions of course: my husband and all my kids’ grandfathers and step-grandfather. I also bend the rule for a few men I know really, really well. Li...