The State Wants to Raise Your Child

Review: Abby W. Schachter, ‘No Child Left Alone’

BY: Tyler Arnold

5246490463_7883ced9d1_bThe state’s intervention into everyday life can be worrisome, whether it’s a new tax policy, a new environmental regulation, or more government surveillance. But it’s something people can usually live with. But in her new book, No Child Left Alone, Abby W. Schachter delves into how the federal government has been meddling in the bedrock of human society: the family.

Whether it’s letting your child stay home, packing your child’s lunch, or sending your child to daycare, the federal government wants control. Schachter discusses how the state’s involvement has impacted the mental and physical development of children as well as how it strips away the rights of the parents to raise their children as they see fit.

A mother of four, Schachter speaks from personal experience as to how involved the state is in raising her own children. She discusses how other parents, who have done nothing other than raise their children in a manner in which the state does not approve, have been arrested, put on probation, or had their children taken away. Choosing to let eight-year-olds play at a playground by themselves or walk a few blocks to a friend’s house used to be socially acceptable; however, Schachter details how doing so recently has landed parents in jail.

Teaching children responsibility is instrumental to brain development, she points out. Without it, children become overly dependent. In addition to economic factors, this has driven significant numbers of millennials to stay home. But even when they do branch out and venture off to college, the culture of dependency stays with them and they demand things such as “safe spaces.” Yet parents become afraid of getting arrested or being shamed as bad parents if they allow a miniscule amount of independence.

Parents can also get arrested for children becoming obese. Schachter writes that the state has decided to treat morbid obesity as a form of neglect, even if there is no proof that the parents are at fault. She goes into detail about instances in which children have been taken away from their parents for obesity, and the foster care system did not make them any better…. read more here