Yep. You read that right. Apparently, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, if your kid is “truant” you- the parent- will be punished.

The warning was sent out in July about an increased focus on truancy in East Baton Rouge Parish, but the crackdown officially began this week as three tickets were issued to the parents of kids who failed to report to school during the first half of the school year.

Local D. A. explains: “…his office will prosecute the parents of students with more than five unexcused absences” and that “The parents face fines or up to six months in jail.”

I realize truancy is a misdemeanor in LA, but I’m thinking this could be handled another way. Why should the parents be prosecuted and fined-with possible jail time? Isn’t there a better way to handle this? Not to mention better ways to spend tax payers money.

If this kind of logic were applied to myself in my high school years, we’d probably be bankrupt and be serving 20 years for all the school I missed.

Yesterday, at around 6:12 p.m. EST, Twitter user Shellie Ross (@Military_Mom) posted an ominous tweet:

Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool

Several hours later, she posted a link to a picture “remembering [her] million dollar baby,” indicating that her beautiful son, Bryson Drago Ross, had drowned. An immediate outpouring of sympathy went out on Twitter, with some relating stories of their own tragic loss. It was a tremendous display of how online social networks can be used for expressing grief and to receive virtual emotional support.

But then it got ugly. People started questioning the veracity of the story. They wanted “proof.” They lectured everyone to cast a cynical eye and hold off on donating, like we’re all a bunch of mindless rubes ready to have our pockets picked by the first con artist to come along. Others questioned Ross’ parenting skills, even going so far as to say maybe she was too busy with Twitter and ignoring her child, and wondered why she would be on Twitter while her son was being rushed to the hospital (even though it was only one short tweet asking for prayers, not a “play by play” as it was described). Some thought that the timeline of Ross’ tweets were off.

The most vocal skeptic was Madison McGraw, who even went so far as to make phone calls to the police station and local newspapers near the Ross home. She eventually found her verification of the accident (although she’s quick to point out that “no identities were revealed”). McGraw thinks that Ross’ choice to tweet about the event says something about what humankind has become:

And if we’ve become a society that responds to death in this manner: Have to call 911, have to call husband, have to call mother, have to call funeral home, have to Twitter this- then we are seriously failing as a society.

Now, being a pretty cynical guy myself, the part of people questioning a virtually anonymous person’s writing on the internet doesn’t shock me at all — you might want to reflect on how you got such a cold, jaded heart once in a while, but we certainly have a right to our opinion no matter how heinous some might think it may be. The real gall comes from expressing your opinion in public — and even worse directly to the grieving mother (I don’t care if you’re using the qualifier “possibly” or not), that’s just beyond rude, it’s downright sick. That people have the audacity to say “PROVE IT!” to a mom who said she just lost her toddler and is undoubtedly feeling more grief and guilt than any of us who have not gone through the experience could ever imagine, well that, Ms. McGraw, speaks infinitely more about our failure as a society than someone in their darkest moment typing 140 characters ever could.

I had almost forgotten about the once-infamous “Octomom”, i.e. Nadya Suleman. Then I got this article via Google Alert. We all knew it was coming-it was only a question of when. When is the reality show coming to a network near you????

Nadya Suleman, the mother of octuplets born Jan. 26, has inked a deal with the British production company Eyeworks, which plans to begin filming a reality TV series based on the controversial single mother and her 14 children.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m a little burnt-out on the big-family-I-Gave-Birth-To-A-Million-Kids shows. It’s losing its appeal, its freshness, its ability to cause morbid fascination. At least for me.

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Tattoo Barbie (aka the less threatening/intimidating and more palatable “Butterfly Art Barbie”) is the source of high controversy  among some parents. According to one Sacramento parent:

“It’s attracting kids too young to want to expose parts of their body to show off tattoos,”

Does it have a tinge of over-sexualization? Are we becoming too desensitized or are we overreacting? I must confess, I don’t see what the big fuss is all about. Should I? So she’s got tats and a tattoo ‘gun’. They come off. Is it the message of over-exposure that’s getting to everyone? Or, rather, exposure to non-age appropriate situations and ideas?

How many of you had stick-on tattoos when you were kids? Do your kids have them?

Is this as big of a deal as some make it out to be? Do you see a problem with this particular Barbie?

Quite frankly, I’m a little more concerned and creeped out by the pregnant barbie whose baby just kind of falls out of her stomach….

Black Friday, the busiest day for shoppers and businesses, took on it’s namesake when, at a New York Wal-Mart, an employee actually died from being trampled to death by rabid shoppers.

A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when “out-of-control” shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale.

People were then asked to leave the store, but apparently, death could not  sway the customers from a savvy deal, even proclaiming “Do You know how long we’ve been in line?”

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

Among those injured, an eight month pregnant woman was taken to the hospital for minor injuries. depending on what you read, she was either treated for injuries or had a miscarriage. However, as the day went on, it was confirmed there was  no miscarriage.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.

People will do anything for a deal, I suppose.