Opinion

How much independence is your child really ready to handle, and how willing are you to grant it? “Mom, can I walk to Courtney’s house?” My daughter asked me. She was 10 years old.

Dear Annie: My wife and I have three perfect grandchildren, ages 1, 5 and 7. We love watching them at least one day a week. Their parents are caring and careful. But occasionally when I am just about to fall asleep, I have “waking dreams” that the most horrible things happen to the kids. Why? I am able to push these disturbing thoughts out of my brain in a few seconds. I don’t want to pay a psychiatrist for the answer. -- Worried in Kentucky Dear Worried in Kentucky: While I admire your ability to push those disturbing thoughts out of your mind, nonetheless, that which we resist, persists. It might be beneficial to talk to your wife or a counselor about these thoughts. Sometimes just acknowledging and talking about your fears make your fears lessen. If you try to go at it alone, you will continue to suffer.

Pay Down, or Pay Ahead? It Can Be Confusing Years ago, I learned a lesson I won’t have to learn again. It was that poignant.

Liberals can be really hateful people on television, and they know how to keep their audiences in a high state of panic over conservatives. They have zero fear of the “independent fact-checkers,” so they can just spew crazy stuff. But when they shovel the alarmism with a name like “Joy” or “Jolly,” it’s especially strange.

Whether the Putative Target Is the ‘Biomedical Security State,’ Wokeness, ‘Big Tech Censors’ or Chinese Communists, the Presidential Candidate’s Grandstanding Poses a Clear Threat to Individual Rights

Dear Annie: When I was 12 or 13 years old, I had a pen pal in a different state. I’ll call him “Casey.” This was long before anyone had ever heard of the term “catfished.” We wrote several long letters every week and sent many photographs and small gifts. At times, we would speak on the phone. This was pre-cellphone, and I would have to save my allowance and telephone from a phone booth.

The Wollman Rink episode, or, rather, the unduly optimistic conclusion I drew from it, explains a lot about Donald Trump’s presidency and why he may not do as well against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) in the contest for the Republican nomination, as current poll numbers suggest.

As nearly every standardized test is showing, our schools are doing an abysmal job teaching kids how to read or do math. In some cases, kids graduating from high school can barely read their diplomas.

Dear Annie: I have teenagers who are in multiple sports. My mother-in-law is a huge fan of sports and attends most events. She gets extremely excited about the game going on and is incredibly loud -- shouting during a majority of the game.

Texas is currently America’s leader in wind and solar power. It provides 28% of America’s wind energy. If it were a country, it would be the fifth biggest source. Surprisingly, it’s about to eclipse California in production of solar power.