Slapping, Spanking, and Other Stuff That Will Get You Arrested

Consider the following from the Associated Press:

http://tinyurl.com/qrbdmc

Okay - so now we have another person who's been arrested for disciplining someone else's child.

Of course, there should be zero tolerance when it comes to any stranger touching someone or someone's child without their permission. I'm not disputing that - nor would anybody with half a brain. Yet most of the comments that have been posted on this story are outraged pontifications about the evils of disciplining someone else's child.

When are we going to address the real problem?

Misbehaving children are a public nuisance. They're a disturbance. And, as such, they need to be properly managed by the parent or designated child-handler.

If the handler can't handle or refuses to handle the disruption, authorities need to be called and tickets need to be written.

At the very least, store or restaurant managers should be encouraged to evict these parents - and their rotten little angels - from the premises.

I love other people's children the way I love other people's dogs - housebroken and properly trained. If the child or pet pees on a public floor, or starts yapping uncontrollably, I expect the parent - or owner - to correct the problem. If the parent or owner is too lazy to do so, I expect the person to at least have enough sense to take the child or pet away to an obliging pooch park or playground where such behavior is acceptable.

When I was a child, my parents kept me at home until I was able to behave properly in society. By the time I was old enough to accompany my parents to the store or out to eat, I knew it was a great privilege I had won and that to keep it I had to act in a certain way.

When my sister came home to visit this summer, we went out to lunch at a lovely restaurant in Lakewood. Our experience was ruined because someone's screaming (yes, SCREAMING) child was permitted to run loose; in fact, the idiot father who had spawned the toddling nightmare thought the Babe in Annoyland was CUTE. The wait staff all looked like they wanted to commit mass suicide, yet were probably fearing the inevitable, "I'll sue you!" if they dared approach the Loud Family and asked them to leave.

Bottom line - this crap has to stop. I know we've got parents who are lazy and stupid and breeding the next generation of The Lazy and The Stupid, but they need to practice their L & S far away from me, because my rights - hell, my sensibilities - are being violated. Local governments are going broke and need some quick money - so start writing out those citations, boys in blue.

Our towns will be richer and most of us will be a LOT happier. At any rate, I think we could all use some quiet.