Wizened Wednesday, and me ma's Whelpin' Day!

Today's my MOM's BIRTHDAY! Here's who she shares a birthday with...

Today's Birthdays:
Singer Anita O'Day is 87. Rock-and-roll performer Chuck Berry is 80. Actor Peter Boyle is 71. Football coach Mike Ditka is 67.

There are more, but I figured she could identify with these folks a little bit better.

Mom was born in Iowa, I believe (or Idaho), but at any rate is an Iowa girl through and through. She is the middle child of three, and a graduate of the Class of 1957 at Davenport High School.

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Next, some fractured headlines (haven't done these for a while)...

Could an "October surprise" shape the midterm election?
(Why does that term sound like some kind of recipe using pumpkin guts and candy corn with a glaze of circus peanuts?)

Radar helps locate meteorite in Kansas
(Glad to see that Gary Burghoff is getting work again.)

Teen's tongue piercing linked to pain
(Uh...YEAH...tell us something we DON'T KNOW!)

Hikers found with cell phone flash
(A little Gold Bond will clear that up...)

Lessons of football translate well into real life
(So that means if you have enough money and muscle, you too can beat a murder rap?)

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Next, a new "Huh?" award recipient:

Recipient: Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe

Reason: Banning the game of "tag" from the school.

To quote the article:

Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

Apparently, this is not isolated to Massachusetts. Tag has been banned in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Spokane, Washington. In fact, a school in the suburbs of Charleston, SC has banned all unsupervised contact sports. Dodgeball has even been tagged out, so to speak.

A couple parents were quoted in the article on both sides of the fence...

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

Judge's comments:

OK...I don't know about y'all, but I know that I was found "it" more than "not it", and knocked out of dodgeball games more times than I care to mention.

I guess I'm of two minds about the whole damn thing, you know? I can see both sides of the issue, and there's no right answer. However, I think the first quote makes me a smidge more irritated than the 2nd.

I wonder if the first individual quoted has ever been "it" for an extended period of time? If not, being "it" is something that you don't want to be in the grade school mindset for the simple reason that "it" makes you DIFFERENT.

When you're "it", you don't want to be, and furthermore, you want someone else to take your place. Therefore, you act the fool trying to get someone else to be it, and you (plus cohorts) can get hurt in many ways. Some kids take the "it" thing too far, and ostracize others quite severely. I know - I remember doing "it" and being "it", but I was "it" a hell of a lot more.

But should tag be banned? Isn't that just one more yuppie parenting nightmare?

There's no right or wrong answer, I don't think. You can't protect your kids from all the slings and arrows of life, but you don't want them to run around like idiots and get hurt.

Did I mention I have cats? They don't do this kind of stuff - much.

Furthermore, what do you fair readers think of this issue? Let me know in the comments, please!

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I don't have a lot of news to tell at this point, but I probably will tomorrow. I WILL BE BACK! (This should give you plenty of time to move out of the country and cancel your internet service so you don't have to read me anymore...ar ar.)

Sudiegirl