We're Raising A Nation Of Wimps

Remember the case last spring when the state of Maryland seized two kids and dragged their parents into court for the shocking offense of letting the youngsters - ages 10 and 6 - play alone in a park less than three blocks from their home?

The Silver Spring siblings were about 2 1/2 blocks from their home Sunday when Montgomery County police got a call reporting them — gasp — playing alone.

“The police coerced our children into the back of a patrol car and kept them trapped there for three hours, without notifying us, before bringing them to the Crisis Center, and holding them there without dinner for another two and a half hours,” their mom, Danielle Meitiv, said to her Facebook friends. “We finally got home at 11 pm and the kids slept in our room because we were all exhausted and terrified.”

Mom and Dad were dragged into court for that incident, and the nation debated whether they are good or bad parents. Montgomery County ruled that they were guilty of unsubstantiated child neglect. (emphasis added)

Unsubstantiated child neglect?!? What the hell is that? Someone claimed your neglected your kid but couldn't prove it? Sounds pretty damn Kafkaesque to me.

Anyway, I thought that was the height of government-inspired foolishness when it comes to kids.

I was wrong.

Seattle-area school bans game of 'tag'

American schools have banned dodgeball because it's too "aggressive" and made competitive sports uncompetitive by giving all involved "participation trophies" so no one's feelings are hurt.

The latest outrage against childhood is occurring in a Seattle-area school that has banned the game of "tag" because school officials think it affects the "emotional well-being" of students.

The school district's communications director Macy Grade, in an email, told Q13 that the "rationale behind this [ban] is to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students."

Emotional safety? Are kids such wimps that they become traumatized while chased in a game they volunteer to play? Or is that the hyper-sensitive, hyper-protective school district feels the need to protect students from made up dangers to justify their paychecks?

They also address physical safety, wanting kids to "keep their hands to themselves." After all, a pat on the back in a voluntary game of tag might ... make you mildly uncomfortable?

Of course, the ban doesn't make a lick of sense, particularly in the context of what other activities the school offers.

The school promotes competitive sports like football, which is like tag only instead of gently tagging someone and saying "you're it," students will viciously tackle their opponents. Further, the school also provides for wrestling; again, considerably more violent and dangerous than a game of tag.

The only difference I can find behind this kind of hypocrisy is that they charge students $190 per sport in order to participate (this fee was recently raised $15 - perhaps that will go to counseling for the players - they likely will suffer emotional damage from all the rough play, right?). Or perhaps the school can't charge $190 for tag, so they'll ban it.

As editor Lifson notes, we are becoming a "nation of delicate flowers," where the game of "tag" is banned, but they teach about homosexual sex in the early grades.  There is never any consistency in their actions because they are reactive and the result of hysteria.  In other words, they appear to sit around trying to dream up new ways to "protect" the kids without giving any thought to how stupid it looks to any sane, rational person.

I suppose eventually, they will come to the conclusion that school itself is dangerous to kids and shut themselves down.  Then perhaps parents can breathe a sigh of relief and homeschool their kids anyway.

Thank God my kids are out of that public school mind-suck. Although, to be fair, here in small town Texas the school district, for the most part, employs common sense. The kids even get a day off for the opening of the county fair and rodeo, and for years the first day of hunting season was an unofficial holiday (probably because the principal and half the teachers called in 'sick' that day).

But overall, I fear the nation's public school system is in the midst of a downward spiral, fueled by political correctness and mind-numbing bureaucracy (see: Zero Tolerance, although that hopefully seems to be changing).

I don't understand the problem some people have with letting kids be kids. I guess they're just not happy unless they're meddling in other people's lives.

Thankfully, my kids and I are past that.