You know, when I read about the story that suggested parents have their children taken from them if those children are morbidly obese, I recoiled a little bit. I mean, sheesh, have we really come to that? Are we really at the point where the state can take our kids if we aren’t feeding ’em like they think we should?
According to Dr. Ludwig, state intervention would involve placing a child in temporary foster care while his parents were taught about better parenting and weight loss. Removing a child from home would be used as a last resort, reserved for cases where the child has severe obesity-related conditions such Type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties and liver problems, the Associated Press reports. Rather than place the blame on parents, the goal of state intervention is to act in children’s best interests, and in some cases, it is “the only realistic way to control harmful behaviors,” Ludwig wrote.
Shouldn’t a parent be able to decide what’s best for their children and government be damned?
Then I saw this story:
Raleigh, N.C. — Raleigh police charged a father with misdemeanor child abuse Wednesday after his 3-year-old daughter left home and walked across four lanes of traffic on Lynn Road.
The girl was not injured.
Aaron Harris Rush, 27, of 920 Hearthridge Court, told police that he was home asleep because he “stayed up until 6 a.m. for no reason,” according to court documents. His bond was set at $1,000.
Police said the little girl, Katelynn, crossed Lynn Road and then walked several blocks down North Hills Drive before someone noticed her and called police.
It turns out that parents often times don’t have their kids best interests at heart. For example, thousands of children are born to Democrats everyday!
I kid.
But back to the point. If I wanna catch a fish here in North Carolina, I have to have a license. To catch a fish. Because if I don’t have a license I might…um, well, I might endanger the population of fishes.
If we can arrest parents for endangering their kids, and we rightly should, is it THAT far of a stretch to think that maybe we should require parents to obtain a license to have a child?