What does a boy spending a night in foster care because his father gave him a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade have to do with L.A.'s recent labeling of co-sleeping as a "lethal act"?
(Besides the fact that both were lambasted by our own Madeline Holler this week, I mean?)
Well, does anyone else think that authorities in general have become much more, well, authoritative of late? And by that I mean: more codified, less flexible, more punitive, less sensitive?
Readers of these posts were reminded of similarly extreme responses to relatively benign situations. Anisa wrote, "I heard recently of a woman *arrested* for dashing into a convenience store for less than five minutes while her kids were in the car - a suburban area, in cool and comfortable temperatures - and the kids were ages ten and two!"
Is it our lawsuit-happy culture that's brought this on ourselves? I can certainly imagine the security guard who ratted out the dad thinking, "If this kid's mom finds out I just watched while her seven-year-old kid downed a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade, I'm going to lose my job/my pension/my entire life's savings if she sues my sorry ass."
Or maybe those who complain about the "dumbing down of America" are right on. As froggemom noted, "it is far too complicated for a public health message to explain what
safe co-sleeping is. I guess its better to say never, than to say only
with [certain] conditions."
