OxBlog

Monday, May 20, 2002

# Posted 5:40 AM by Anonymous  

THE GUARDIAN REPORTS that a twelve-year-old girl has been tagged, or attached to an electronic monitoring device in an attempt to drag her out of an otherwise miserable life of crime. The girl, apparently the youngest so far to sport this new device, broke bail conditions after mugging another twelve-year-old in the West Midlands. Now she must face a new brand of law enforcement called, "caring monitoring."

Reading this article, I couldn't help but be reminded of I woman I saw in the airport last week when I was stranded from a delayed flight. She had two children, each attached to her wrists via leashes. While the eight-year-old was only bound by a wrist attachment, the toddler had a full-body harness, by which she was pulled when the master, er, mother, so much as turned. Anyway, whether this is all part of a growing trend of British child-monitering it is too early to tell. However, the contention that a smotheringly close watch over a twelve-year-old delinquent, and a tight leash on one's offspring, might result in better behaved children seems dubious, and not a little overdone. This new brand of British parenting, whether it be genetic or governmental, is decidedly disconcerting. I'm just glad I'll soon be returning home to America, where we have "rights."
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