Time Of Your Life, Eh, Kid?

Have you noticed that since Christmas it's been a bad time to be a kid? Well to be a kid if, say, you're dad makes you walk 10 miles in the snow in your pajamas... or... you're last name is Travolta... or... you happen to live in Gaza. Kids have taken a real beating the last two weeks or so.

Of course, it could just be me.

Like the fine couple that lost their son - literally lost their son, like keys or glasses - in 1999 and didn't bother to tell anyone about it - FOR 10 YEARS! The Boy was 11 and adopted when he was two and, according to mom and dad, a bit "uncontrollable" - always running away and stuff - you know what those troublesome 11 year olds are like. Anyway, according to his parents, he just ran off ten years ago and, when he didn't come back, they assumed he'd found his biological family and stayed with them. Cause 11 year olds who were adopted when they were two always do that!

I don't know, but can't we find punishments that fit the crime? Make dad get into his jammies and cross the rockies mid-winter? Give papa and mama seizure-inducing meds for the rest of their lives?

Or maybe bundle them all up... and make them spend a week... like the last one... on a playground... in Gaza?