Commandment 5 Don’t Think Like a Lawyer

Commandment 5 Don’t Think Like a Lawyer
Note:5@@@@@@@@Ci immaginiamo mille xicoli e i professionisti del settore ci aiutano di brutto!!! . Lo scenario peggiire il ns scenario.. Scuola: il terrore della denuncia. Le assurditá sono giustificate. I warning sui prodotti.

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fifth graders at my sons’ grammar school go on an overnight to a nature preserve.
Note:L avventura

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rain poncho, hat, water bottle, bug repellent
Note:La lista di quel che serve

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sun block, flashlight, antibacterial wipes

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dad who wants all the chaperones to carry cell phones he can reach
Note:Genitori molto tesi alla riunione

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the proximity of an emergency room.
Note:Cosa vogliono sapere

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“At night, there’s going to be a campfire!”
Note:Detto con entusiasmo. Ascoltato con sospetto.

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the kids sit twenty-five feet away,”
Note:Aggiunta provvidenziale

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pictures of little Jenna or Jayden going the way of Joan of Arc.

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What terrible thing could possibly happen?
Note:Ogni volta che il figlio esce di casa.

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we’ll see you in court.
Note:La minaccia del genitore

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The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook
Note:Il bbest seller

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We are “worst case” parents,

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What has changed over the past generation or so is that now people worry like that about every activity,

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Se vado in moto metto il casco. Se vado in barca il salvagente.

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Parents feel they must be super prepared for the worst of the worst,

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“Get on the bus, sit down fast, buckle your seat belts,
Note:Quello che si diceva ad un bimbo

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“And we tell them to make sure their backpacks aren’t fastened at the waist.”
Note:Quello che si aggiunge.

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just in case they’re getting off the bus and the bus driver isn’t paying attention and he closes the door too fast and their backpack gets caught inside
Note:Il motivo

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“Has that ever happened?” “Well, not that I know of. But . . .”

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Just. In. Case.
Note:Parola d ordine

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Just in Case mentality

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The problem is, the checklist just keeps growing.

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Worries multiply because we are an imaginative species,

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parents are more imaginative than anyone

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But our worries also get a big boost from professionals:

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Meanwhile, schools ban activities. Parks ban games.

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the dangers of . . . hula hoops.

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I am trying really hard to imagine how a rolling plastic hoop could possibly hurt anyone except, perhaps, an ant in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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“Something like 40 percent of schools have gotten rid of recess,”

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That’s why so few schools have those ropes we used to climb in gym.

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An elementary school in Attleboro, Massachusetts, has gone so far as to outlaw the game of tag

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most kids not only survive recess, they need it to survive the rest of the day.
Note:The big recess

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lose one lawsuit and, instead of buying pencils and paper, the whole school system could end up paying for someone’s château in Provence.
Note:I presidi hanno ragione

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A nationwide survey of five thousand principals found that 20 percent of them spend five to ten hours a week writing reports or having meetings just in order to avoid litigation.

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The people who run these activities have understandably become so fearful of financial ruin that they keep curtailing what’s allowed.

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“I fully understand my minor’s participation may involve risk of serious injury or death.”
Note:Firme firme firme. Es recita

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“Remove child before folding.”

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“This product moves when used.”
Note:Adesivo su scooter

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“Do not use soft wax as ear plugs or for any other function that involves insertion into a body cavity.”
Note:Sulle candele

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It’s because they actually do have to protect themselves from being sued for the weirdest, most ridiculous reasons.

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even a two- or three-block walk is considered way too dangerous.
Note:Alla fermata dello scuolabus deve esrci un adulto

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That very, very, very, very small chance is one we’re not willing to take anymore,
Note:Le piccole probabilitá

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we know that in a court of law, a jury would probably find someone or something guilty.

SOCIETA’ LIQUIDA O SOCIETA’ SENSIBILE?

SOCIETA’ LIQUIDA O SOCIETA’ SENSIBILE?
Nella società liquida tutto è precario e l’insicurezza trionfa.
Domanda: ma oggi viviamo in un ambiente meno sicuro rispetto ai nostri genitori? E rispetto ai nostri nonni?
Ovvero: la società liquida o sensibile? La precarietà è percepita o reale? L’incertezza è percepita o reale? Il rischio è percepito o reale? L’insicurezza è percepita o reale?
In alcuni casi macroscopici la risposta è certa: trattasi di mera illusione. Penso alle mamme di oggi, MOLTO più in ansia per i figli che vivono in un ambiente MOLTO più sicuro rispetto a ieri.
Oppure penso ai crimini e alla tendenza generale: meno crimini, più paure. 
Per molti la domanda di cui sopra è irrilevante, dicono: fosse anche solo un’insicurezza “percepita” dobbiamo farcene carico, un problema, in fondo, esiste nel momento in cui è percepito.

IMO: se la società fosse “sensibile” anziché “liquida” una strategia per “farsi carico” – per me la migliore - è spiegare. Spiegare che il problema non esiste.

BOICOTTA LE GINOCCHIERE!

Riccardo Mariani

Adesso · 

Amazon

 · 

BOICOTTA LE GINOCCHIERE!

La nostra infanzia aveva un’unica misura di sicurezza, la mamma che gridava dalla finestra: “mi raccomando, torna a casa quando fa buio!”, oggi invece c’è il babyproofer, tipo James Hirtenstein, che in TV, a beneficio dell’infanzia abbandonata, studia palmo a palmo gli attici di Manhattan per portare alla luce le trappole orribili che nascondono questi appartamenti (anche se tutti noi sappiamo che il lato più terrificante di questi appartamenti è la rata del mutuo). Il pericolo si annida ovunque, a cominciare dalle scale (Hirtenstein “cancella” praticamente tutto), per passare alle porte (Hrtenstein blocca praticamente tutto per evitare che la mano di vostro figlio diventi come quella di un falegname novantenne), per non dire della cucina (Hitenstein: lucchetti al frigo! Assolutamente! Questa non l’ho capita bene, forse teme che il lattonzolo si faccia una birra). Ma il posto più terrorizzante è il bagno che H. bolla come e-stre-ma-men-te-pe-ri-co-lo-so (qui sembrerebbe doveroso parlare con lo staccato in stile Marines): innanzitutto lucchetti ad ogni tazza del cesso, due bimbi alla settimana ne sono vittime (che modo orribile di andarsene! anche se verificando meglio si nota come H. abbia leggermente ritoccato il dato pompandolo del 2.600%, sono 4 all’anno, non 2 alla settimana). Il babyproofer, ad ogni modo, non si muove mai leggero, è sempre carico di mercanzia bebyproof in grado di far esplodere all’inverosimile il costo di ciascuno dei vostri figli, praticamente una retta universitaria parallela (per non parlare dell’irritazione ai vostri nervi). Innanzitutto ci sono le ginocchiere per gattonare, oggi un dispositivo medico detraibile in dichiarazione: sono utili contro le abrasioni, specie nel passaggio da moquette a parquet a marmo, inoltre, nel praticare questo sport estremo, sembrano ideali nella prevenzione delle “sbandate” (è scritto sul bugiardino, devo ammettere che nella mia esperienza non ho visto molte sbandate, nemmeno in curva!). Su Amazon una mamma commenta entusiasta l’utilità dello strumento, unico inconveniente: sua figlia non ne vuole sapere di indossarle (uno a zero per la figlia, direi). Altro prodotto: elmetto primi passi. A quanto pare i traumi cranici in questa delicata fase della vita sono “in crescita”. Strano, erano già bassi e in netto calo fino a pochi anni fa, forse meglio chiedere al Dr. Sessions Cole, primario all’ospedale per bambini di St. Louis, un reparto che esamina 65.000-70.000 incidenti infantili all’anno. A stretto giro di posta il solerte luminare ci ha reso noto a titolo esemplificativo il numero di incidenti registrati nell’ultimo anno e potenzialmente compresi nella casistica che a noi interessa: zero. A quanto pare, anche se quei maledetti mocciosi barcollano non poco sembrano più stabili del previsto. D’altro canto non è detto che tutti gli anni siano così fortunati e il casco-primi-passi costa solo 40 euro, non sarà meglio azzerare il rischio visto che lo si puo’ fare? Ma l’inventario babyproof continua: ci sono i lucchetti da water, le coperture gommate per praticamente tutto, le presine agevolate da applicare sui saponi, 25 varietà diverse di specchietti da montare sull’auto per controllare che dietro sia tutto ok (e che probabilmente a furia di “occhiatine” vi faranno finire fuori strada: prima causa di morte per tutti i pupi), il tappetino misura temperature per la vasca da bagno (il polso inganna) con il display che segnala TROPPO CALDO! Copertine con il reggi-collo per non spezzarglielo quando lo tenete in braccio (forse per i genitori con un braccio amputato). Imbragature in stile marionetta per farlo camminare bello dritto… Insomma, quando entri alla Prenatal reparto sicurezza non sai mai se riempire il carrello o destinare la somma in gelati (faranno male?). Tu in cuor tuo avresti già deciso ma poi ricordi il primo comandamento dell’era in cui vivi: “non fidarti mai e poi mai di te stesso”.

#Amazon

AMAZON.COM

Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)

FREE RANGE KIDS has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazy's piece about allowing her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lo...

Commandment 3 Avoid Experts

Commandment 3 Avoid Experts
Note:3@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

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Did you read What to Expect When You’re Expecting? Of course you did. Or your spouse did. Everyone did. I did. I found it very helpful. And horrible.
Note:IL LIBRO

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as the introduction to the fourth edition cheerfully proclaims, “More symptoms and more solutions than ever before.”
Note:MAREA DI SINTOMI

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Let’s take a glance at the twenty-nine pages on “eating well.” (Not to be confused with the brand extension, What to Eat When You’re Expecting—a whole book. By the time you’re done reading it, the baby’s in law school.)
Note:MANGIAR BENE

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“Each bite during the day is an opportunity to feed that growing baby of yours healthy nutrients.” Not each meal. Not each day. Each bite has to be carefully considered
Note:OGNI BOCCONE CONTA

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maybe the slow class at school for junior. Maybe weight problems for life. Or worse.
Note:SE MN CURI OGNI BOCCONE

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“better birthweight, improved brain development, reduced risk for certain birth defects. . . .”
Note:I BENEFICI

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she is left to feel that she’s a horrible person.

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“Lose the guilt, hold the deprivation, and allow yourself a treat every once in a while.” A treat that will make “your tastebuds jump for joy.” And what exactly would that fantastic treat be? “A blueberry muffin.”
Note:INCITAMENTO

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on the one hand, it’s hard to argue with a book that says pregnant women should be eating well. On the other hand, it’s hard not to argue with a book that drives pregnant women crazy.

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AMBIVALENZA

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As an obstetrician who teaches at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, this is the sum total of his dietary advice for expectant moms: “Just eat like you have your whole life, but eat a little more.”
Note:RICETTA ALTERNATIVA

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(Aren’t the people who think about the consequences of each bite generally referred to as anorexics?)
Note:ANORESSIA

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hyperconsciousness—the

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you would fail or at least forget the million particulars that you’re supposed to do. And then you’ll feel bad.
Note:SENTIRSI INADEMPIENTI ########## SU FACEBOOK FIN QUI

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The Happiest Toddler on the Block—ah yes, let’s compete for whose kid is happier—teaches
Note:COMPETIZIONE TRA I GENITORI

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What if you want to encourage good behavior in your child? Saying “Yay!” is no longer enough. Happiest Toddler suggests rewarding moppets “with a pen check mark on the back of their hands when they have done something good.”
Note:TIMBRINI

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“First, my Lord, you woke up and did proceed not to throw your binky across the room. Huzzah, huzzah. Then, my Lord, when it was time for the day’s morning repast, you did splendidly wield your spoon like a big boy . . .”
Note:LITANIA DA RIPETERE OGNI SERA

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not just basic advice like “Try not to yell very much.” No, they tell you the exact words, like you’re a bumbling amateur who needs a script to say the right thing.
Note:OGNI PAROLA

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in a book with the really promising title Am I a Normal Parent? there’s a whole section on how not to quash your child’s will to live when he asks if you like the picture he drew.
Note:I SUOI DISEGNI

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“One way to help your child trust your response would be to take a minute or so to really look at the drawing and then, instead of commenting on the final product, say something about the process. For example, you might say, ‘I like the way you drew a black circle around the sun to make it stand out. I also like the red shirt on the boy in the picture. It reminds me of the shirt you wore to your last birthday party.’
Note:COME REAGIRE

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So I guess “That’s beautiful, hon!” makes them think we’re total liars and the world is a stinking cesspool of phonies?

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That same book has a whole page about whether to tell your child the tooth fairy is hooey—a
Note:LO GNOMO DEL DENTINO

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Why do we suddenly need an expert telling us how to broach this touchy subject?

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“What books and videos should I choose for my child’s potty library?” Her what?
Note:SCEGLIRRE I LIBRI

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Is your child studying for an advanced degree in Potty Studies?

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But when an author starts telling you not only to read potty books aloud to your child but to “extend your child’s favorite potty stories and songs into everyday play situations” and to “use hand puppets, finger puppets or spoon puppets to have a conversation about potty

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Where did this bizarre reliance on these folks come from? And can we wean ourselves off of it?     Jillian Swartz, editor in chief of the online magazine Family Groove, believes it all started the same way the Food Network did, sort of. “Every ten years or so,” says Swartz, “a new, once-mundane job becomes deified. Think: Chefs in the nineties and handymen and home decorators in the two thousands.” About twenty years or so ago, another lowly job suddenly became chic: motherhood.
Note:LAVORI DI MODA. CUOCO DECORATORE... MAMMA

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fetishization of every last mother-loving detail of parenthood, and an ever-burgeoning breed of experts to propagate this often mind-numbing minutiae.
Note:FETICISMO

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The avalanche of expert advice—and nonexpert advice on nonetheless very enticing Web sites—undermines our belief that we are equipped with enough common sense
Note:IL DUBBIO SUL SENSO COMUNE

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That battered confidence, in turn, leads us to look ever more desperately to the experts wherever we find them.
Note:PAURE E VENDITORI DI RICETTE

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we feel like failures.

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Then when—surprise—our kids turn out not to be perfect, we know who’s to blame. We are!
Note:SAPPIAMO CHI ACCUSARE: NOI

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If only we’d put aside that deep-fried Oreo in our second trimester, she’d be in the gifted program at school. And if our child is cranky? Uncommunicative? Headed for five to ten years’ hard labor? That just might be because we told her, “Look, sweetie, a broken cracker is not the end of the world!” instead of saying, “Oooh, your cracker broke. Sad sad sad sad sad!” and respectfully relating.
Note:IL LAMENTO DELLA DISPERATA

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So what’s the alternative? Reading every book and article and trying to do absolutely all the stuff they recommend? (She asked rhetorically.) Or avoiding the experts entirely and perhaps missing out on some good advice? Well, it’s obviously somewhere in the middle,
Note:SOLUZIONE

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Barrett says, “Look for credentials.”
Note:CREDENZIALI

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ask your doctor to recommend a reliable book.

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They’re more ready to believe the ones who say, “Whatever you’ve heard is fine, isn’t.”
Note:VOGLIA D INCONSUETO

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fear sells?)
Note:LA PAURA FA VENDERE

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Most of us came of age right alongside the consumer protection movement. As kids we learned that car companies knew about brake problems but hid them from the public, even as the cigarette manufacturers knew they were giving us cancer but pretended that they didn’t. Understandably, we grew up pretty cynical. But over the years, as we stopped trusting additives and preservatives and pesticides and saccharine and Western medicine and government and pretty much anything that wasn’t an organic potato wrapped in a recycled paper bag from Whole Foods, some of us just threw up our hands and decided it was impossible to trust anything or anyone. (Except Oprah.) The minute we heard something new and nefarious about a time-honored product or practice, a whole lot of us were ready to embrace it. Shampoo gives you cancer? We knew it!
Note:DEGENERAZIONE DEL PENSIERO CRITICO

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But as Barrett points out (knowing full well he will sound like just another “establishment” source not to be trusted): most companies really do not try to sell us deadly or defective products. Even if they have no corporate conscience whatsoever, doing wrong is still not worth it to them, because if they harm a single child, they’ll have to recall millions of products.
Note:MULTINAZIONALI

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So we have a choice: we can trust the self-proclaimed experts warning us that our body wash is toxic—and by the way, so is everything else—or we can just be glad we’re living in a highly regulated society that truly isn’t teeming with killer products.
Note:L ALTERNATIVA

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Dr. Spock famously began his baby care book with these reassuring words: “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” The mantra of today’s experts—“Trust us.
Note:FIDATI DI TE

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remember that the best child-rearing advice boils down to the old basics. Listen to your kids. Love them. Keep them out of oncoming traffic.
LE BASI

LETTRICI CON IL PANCIONE

Riccardo Mariani

Adesso · 

Amazon

 · 

LETTRICI CON IL PANCIONE

I libri su cosa fare quando un bimbo è in arrivo (“cosa vi aspetta quando aspettate”) sono talmente voluminosi e sta-carichi di inquietanti sintomi sempre nuovi con annesse centinaia di soluzioni cangianti che se una non si distrae e si mette d’impegno forse riesce a finirli quando il figlio è in quarta elementare.

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AMAZON.COM

Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)

FREE RANGE KIDS has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazy's piece about allowing her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lo...

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Commandment 3 Avoid Experts - Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) by Lenore Skenazy

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Commandment 3 Avoid ExpertsRead more at location 592

Note: 3@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Edit

Did you read What to Expect When You’re Expecting? Of course you did. Or your spouse did. Everyone did. I did. I found it very helpful. And horrible.Read more at location 594

Note: IL LIBRO Edit

as the introduction to the fourth edition cheerfully proclaims, “More symptoms and more solutions than ever before.”Read more at location 601

Note: MAREA DI SINTOMI Edit

Let’s take a glance at the twenty-nine pages on “eating well.” (Not to be confused with the brand extension, What to Eat When You’re Expecting—a whole book. By the time you’re done reading it, the baby’s in law school.)Read more at location 603

Note: MANGIAR BENE Edit

“Each bite during the day is an opportunity to feed that growing baby of yours healthy nutrients.” Not each meal. Not each day. Each bite has to be carefully consideredRead more at location 606

Note: OGNI BOCCONE CONTA Edit

maybe the slow class at school for junior. Maybe weight problems for life. Or worse.Read more at location 610

Note: SE MN CURI OGNI BOCCONE Edit

“better birthweight, improved brain development, reduced risk for certain birth defects. . . .”Read more at location 611

Note: I BENEFICI Edit

she is left to feel that she’s a horrible person.Read more at location 614

Add a note

“Lose the guilt, hold the deprivation, and allow yourself a treat every once in a while.” A treat that will make “your tastebuds jump for joy.” And what exactly would that fantastic treat be? “A blueberry muffin.”Read more at location 616

Note: INCITAMENTO Edit

on the one hand, it’s hard to argue with a book that says pregnant women should be eating well. On the other hand, it’s hard not to argue with a book that drives pregnant women crazy.Read more at location 620

Note: AMBIVALENZA Edit

As an obstetrician who teaches at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, this is the sum total of his dietary advice for expectant moms: “Just eat like you have your whole life, but eat a little more.”Read more at location 622

Note: RICETTA ALTERNATIVA Edit

(Aren’t the people who think about the consequences of each bite generally referred to as anorexics?)Read more at location 625

Note: ANORESSIA Edit

hyperconsciousness—theRead more at location 626

Add a note

you would fail or at least forget the million particulars that you’re supposed to do. And then you’ll feel bad.Read more at location 639

Note: SENTIRSI INADEMPIENTI Edit

The Happiest Toddler on the Block—ah yes, let’s compete for whose kid is happier—teachesRead more at location 640

Note: COMPETIZIONE TRA I GENITORI Edit

What if you want to encourage good behavior in your child? Saying “Yay!” is no longer enough. Happiest Toddler suggests rewarding moppets “with a pen check mark on the back of their hands when they have done something good.”Read more at location 646

Note: TIMBRINI Edit

“First, my Lord, you woke up and did proceed not to throw your binky across the room. Huzzah, huzzah. Then, my Lord, when it was time for the day’s morning repast, you did splendidly wield your spoon like a big boy . . .”Read more at location 651

Note: LITANIA DA RIPETERE OGNI SERA Edit

not just basic advice like “Try not to yell very much.” No, they tell you the exact words, like you’re a bumbling amateur who needs a script to say the right thing.Read more at location 656

Note: OGNI PAROLA Edit

in a book with the really promising title Am I a Normal Parent? there’s a whole section on how not to quash your child’s will to live when he asks if you like the picture he drew.Read more at location 658

Note: I SUOI DISEGNI Edit

“One way to help your child trust your response would be to take a minute or so to really look at the drawing and then, instead of commenting on the final product, say something about the process. For example, you might say, ‘I like the way you drew a black circle around the sun to make it stand out. I also like the red shirt on the boy in the picture. It reminds me of the shirt you wore to your last birthday party.’Read more at location 660

Note: COME REAGIRE Edit

So I guess “That’s beautiful, hon!” makes them think we’re total liars and the world is a stinking cesspool of phonies?Read more at location 665

Add a note

That same book has a whole page about whether to tell your child the tooth fairy is hooey—aRead more at location 669

Note: LO GNOMO DEL DENTINO Edit

Why do we suddenly need an expert telling us how to broach this touchy subject?Read more at location 671

Add a note

“What books and videos should I choose for my child’s potty library?” Her what?Read more at location 673

Note: SCEGLIRRE I LIBRI Edit

Is your child studying for an advanced degree in Potty Studies?Read more at location 679

Add a note

But when an author starts telling you not only to read potty books aloud to your child but to “extend your child’s favorite potty stories and songs into everyday play situations” and to “use hand puppets, finger puppets or spoon puppets to have a conversation about pottyRead more at location 685

Add a note

Where did this bizarre reliance on these folks come from? And can we wean ourselves off of it?     Jillian Swartz, editor in chief of the online magazine Family Groove, believes it all started the same way the Food Network did, sort of. “Every ten years or so,” says Swartz, “a new, once-mundane job becomes deified. Think: Chefs in the nineties and handymen and home decorators in the two thousands.” About twenty years or so ago, another lowly job suddenly became chic: motherhood.Read more at location 692

Note: LAVORI DI MODA. CUOCO DECORATORE... MAMMA Edit

fetishization of every last mother-loving detail of parenthood, and an ever-burgeoning breed of experts to propagate this often mind-numbing minutiae.Read more at location 698

Note: FETICISMO Edit

The avalanche of expert advice—and nonexpert advice on nonetheless very enticing Web sites—undermines our belief that we are equipped with enough common senseRead more at location 701

Note: IL DUBBIO SUL SENSO COMUNE Edit

That battered confidence, in turn, leads us to look ever more desperately to the experts wherever we find them.Read more at location 702

Note: PAURE E VENDITORI DI RICETTE Edit

we feel like failures.Read more at location 705

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Then when—surprise—our kids turn out not to be perfect, we know who’s to blame. We are!Read more at location 706

Note: SAPPIAMO CHI ACCUSARE: NOI Edit

If only we’d put aside that deep-fried Oreo in our second trimester, she’d be in the gifted program at school. And if our child is cranky? Uncommunicative? Headed for five to ten years’ hard labor? That just might be because we told her, “Look, sweetie, a broken cracker is not the end of the world!” instead of saying, “Oooh, your cracker broke. Sad sad sad sad sad!” and respectfully relating.Read more at location 707

Note: IL LAMENTO DELLA DISPERATA Edit

So what’s the alternative? Reading every book and article and trying to do absolutely all the stuff they recommend? (She asked rhetorically.) Or avoiding the experts entirely and perhaps missing out on some good advice? Well, it’s obviously somewhere in the middle,Read more at location 711

Note: SOLUZIONE Edit

Barrett says, “Look for credentials.”Read more at location 717

Note: CREDENZIALI Edit

ask your doctor to recommend a reliable book.Read more at location 721

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They’re more ready to believe the ones who say, “Whatever you’ve heard is fine, isn’t.”Read more at location 723

Note: VOGLIA D INCONSUETO Edit

fear sells?)Read more at location 726

Note: LA PAURA FA VENDERE Edit

Most of us came of age right alongside the consumer protection movement. As kids we learned that car companies knew about brake problems but hid them from the public, even as the cigarette manufacturers knew they were giving us cancer but pretended that they didn’t. Understandably, we grew up pretty cynical. But over the years, as we stopped trusting additives and preservatives and pesticides and saccharine and Western medicine and government and pretty much anything that wasn’t an organic potato wrapped in a recycled paper bag from Whole Foods, some of us just threw up our hands and decided it was impossible to trust anything or anyone. (Except Oprah.) The minute we heard something new and nefarious about a time-honored product or practice, a whole lot of us were ready to embrace it. Shampoo gives you cancer? We knew it!Read more at location 728

Note: DEGENERAZIONE DEL PENSIERO CRITICO Edit

But as Barrett points out (knowing full well he will sound like just another “establishment” source not to be trusted): most companies really do not try to sell us deadly or defective products. Even if they have no corporate conscience whatsoever, doing wrong is still not worth it to them, because if they harm a single child, they’ll have to recall millions of products.Read more at location 736

Note: MULTINAZIONALI Edit

So we have a choice: we can trust the self-proclaimed experts warning us that our body wash is toxic—and by the way, so is everything else—or we can just be glad we’re living in a highly regulated society that truly isn’t teeming with killer products.Read more at location 740

Note: L ALTERNATIVA Edit

Dr. Spock famously began his baby care book with these reassuring words: “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” The mantra of today’s experts—“Trust us.Read more at location 742

Note: FIDATI DI TE Edit

remember that the best child-rearing advice boils down to the old basics. Listen to your kids. Love them. Keep them out of oncoming traffic.Read more at location 745

Note: LE BASI