A Pittsburgh dad who left his two children unsupervised at a park was charged with two counts of endangerment.
His kids—a 6-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy—were left playing at a park while Govindaraj Narayanasamy nipped off to Walmart for around two hours. After a woman noticed the children playing without a guardian, she called police and expressed her concern.
Blame Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, for her controversial 2010 “Take Our Children to the Park & Leave Them There Day:”
"A woman noticed this unusual thing: Kids playing without an adult around! That this fact was “disturbing” to an onlooker is what is so disturbing about our culture. For millennia, kids kept themselves occupied while their parents were otherwise engaged. A 9-year-old watching a 6-year-old was NORMAL, not a REASON TO CALL THE COPS."
I share this story on the back of a near abduction in my own neighbourhood recently. A child was playing out of range of a sibling. A stranger asked to pick him up and the child said yes. Only then did the older sibling come running over, by which time the woman fled the scene.
Was the father's 'abandonment' an act of independence or an act of criminal neglect? At what age are children ready to play alone at a public park?
Would you like a complimentary beetle in your Frappuccino? That's the question barristas at Starbucks locations should be asking you the next time you order anything suspiciously pink.
The vegan community is peeved at the coffee giant this week for alleging that their products were 'vegan-friendly,' when according to the USA Today report, the company was found to use cochineal beetles as food colouring for its frappuccinos and certain smoothies. (The truth came out only because Starbucks wanted to move away from artificial colouring, and started using the 'natural' beetle extract.)
As with the pink slime controversy, the beetle-based food coloring is legal. It's got the FDA seal of approval and is used widely in the food industry. Not that customers are thrilled to know the additive is lurking in their food and beverages.
Managing director of the vegan Web site “This Dish Is Veg,” Daelyn Fortney even started a petition on Change.org to protest Starbucks’ use of the beetles.
In a case of he said, she said, Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills denied these products ever claimed to be vegan, as "there is always the possibility of cross-contamination with other animal-derived products.”
Does a little beetle extract bother you? Should companies be more upfront about their ingredients, or when it comes to your 'ccino, does what you don't know not hurt you?
Health Canada has recalled this set of 4 yellow rubber ducks (UPC 012495979167), as the squeaker in the bottom of the toy can detach, posing a possible choking hazard to young children.
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