Friday, September 2, 2016

Not a great week for little kids

Two news reports caught my attention this week. First, day before yesterday I think, it was reported that a mother asked a man she had just met to drop her four year old son off a bridge. It was a 27 foot drop to the rock strewn river below where the mom waited to pluck her child out of the water after he splashed down. It seems she thought the four year old would think it was fun. One report said he was wearing a life jacket. The people who watched the drama unfold, and took a video of the event (don't you love how everything in life gets recorded these days?) evidently didn't get the impression that the child was enjoying the event. At last report he and two siblings are now in foster care.

A second event was reported this morning on the national news. A mother (no father was mentioned  in either of these events) put her 5-year old child in the hands of a airline to fly him to New York. She paid $100 over the ticket price for an airline employee to travel with the child. Unfortunately, the child, and presumably his guardian ended up in Boston while another child, also traveling without his parents, ended up in New York. Needless to say the first mother was upset, although considering how often luggage gets delivered to the wrong destination (I have a friend who claims that her luggage has traveled to much more interesting sites that she has) how can they be surprised if the occasional child goes astray? I never heard a report on the reaction of the second child's parents to the mix up, but I assume that by this time the proper children have been delivered to their parents.

All in all, not a great week for little kids. Their parents on the other hand probably got what they deserved.

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