so, about that license…

From the Bartlesville Sunrise Reporter:

“A Bartlesville couple is charged with felony child abuse for allegedly locking a teenage boy in his room. Terry and Angel Barrows are accused of repeatedly locking the 16-year-old boy in his room for up to 16 hours at a time. Authorities say the door was locked with a sliding bolt and a chain and the windows were screwed shut. The couple told police the boy has attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiance disorder. They said they were advised by a counselor to lock the boy in the room. Police say the counselor denies telling the couple to lock up the boy.”

First of all, if I was left without parental supervision at the age of 16 for that amount of time, I would probably have a pretty bad defiance disorder too. Second of all, if my kids behavior was so bad that I had to bolt his bedroom door to keep it closed, I think I would realize that he needed some serious help that I can’t provide him with at home. Thirdly, Mike was rather appalled to find out that Terry Barrows, the father, actually works the same shift as him at Central States Business Forms. There’s nothing like socializing with your local child abusers without being aware of it.

Didn’t we have a previous discussion on this blog somewhere about licensing people to have children?