&gt;  is flirting with a visit from child protective services.<p>No doubt. Co-worker let kids (probably 5-6 years old), play outside, in a cul-de-sac. While they were inside watching. Sure enough, anonymous neighbor called cops. CPS and cops got involved. Embarasing calls at work,  monitoring from CPS (regular visits to &quot;check&quot; on them for a period of time), headaches, lost time.<p>Heck, the neighbor might have just not liked the color of their lawn and they knew that calling CPS and cops about kids will ensure maximum punishment for minimum risk to them (&quot;Hey, I was just thinking about the safety of the children&quot;).<p>Once those in power act irrationally about anything. That will always be exploited. It was exploited many years ago in the Soviet Union. Neighbors would have spats about goats eating grass on the wrong side of the fence. Then one of them would denounce the others as &quot;enemies of the people&quot; and bam! family sent to Siberia in no time.