All I have are anecdotes, and I can't speak to the frequency of law enforcement getting involved, but regarding the general perception of what is 'appropriate parenting' there is a culture of micromanagement, paranoia, and shaming.

I feel like there is something really meta about your comment.

I also feel like I have read this exact article about 3 years ago.

EDIT: Oh, of course, I remembered this article by the same writer: https://www.salon.com/2014/06/03/the_day_i_left_my_son_in_th...

In some ways, I think the 4 year old article was better.

It's going to vary based on where your live. And even if there are local laws, you might be subject to just how much of a busy-body your neighbors are.

In Illinois, it's illegal it keep children ages 6 and under in a vehicle unattended for more than 10 minutes. Someone 14 years or older must either accompany or be within eyesight of them.

These laws largely exist because of advocacy groups such as Kids 'n Cars[1] whose founders often had children who died while unattended in vehicles and they want to "save" other parents.

As a parent myself, I think these rules are absolutely bonkers. Kids might be less safe these days in hot cars because windows are now automatic and not manual, but there's likely a technical solution to that problem that does not require jailing anyone or ripping families apart because they ran in to get a coffee.

[1]: https://www.kidsandcars.org/

Wow that organization may be worse than MAD. How many poor families have been made poorer still because parents who never harmed anyone have been thrown in prison by our overzealous drunk driving laws?

Yes. As noted in the article, the now-extensive reach and power of CPS-type investigations is the most damaging typical harrassment. Other parents concerns are annoying but a bit silly. Cops don't have much legal ground in the minor things, as noted. But CPS can pretty do whatever it wants.

I'm always fascinated by sentiments given by people living in the self-declared land of freedom of the form:

> Cops don't [...]. But [govt agency] can do whatever they want.

It seems to me as-if there aren't many real freedoms beyond the first one.

People are being harassed about minor things all the time in this country. The age of social media has just made it more visible. This summer there has been a trend of stories regarding people (usually white) calling the police on their neighbors (usually black) about things like: wearing socks to a pool, barbecuing, sleeping in the common area of the dormitory, and starting a lemonade stand.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/us/black-white-police.htm...

To take just one example, and assuming that it really is terrible to wear socks in a pool (I know that's not actually terrible)... If the sock-wearer were of the same race, would the white person just complain directly: "Hey this is a family-friendly pool: take those damn socks off!" or would the person not care at all because it's fine for white people to wear socks in the pool? The two possibilities both have racist implications, but different racist implications. I almost feel that in the first case we all just need to get together and talk it over. In the second case the racism is fairly irredeemable...

s/parents/mothers/ and the answer is yes. My wife gets constant flak about her parenting, but men are graded on a curve: you didn't skip town before your child was born? Awesome!

With men, the sexism is on the same class as "look at how good these black students are doing!"