Raising Cookies

There is no book on how to raise kids, and if there was it would be a crock of shit. Every kid is different, and therefore must be dealt with differently.

That said, it is the responsibility of the parent to make "relatively" safe decisions when considering summer activities.

For example, sending your teenage kid to a summer basketball camp, music camp or science symposium seems a fairly safe bet when it comes to a childs safety. Sure there are slips and falls, broken bones, hurt feelings and the ultimate realization that your kid is very possibly, at best, exceptionally average. That's why we have lawyers and McDonald's. Jobs and opportunities for all.

I have to wonder about the group of parents who, in their infinite wisdom, send their kids to Alaska as walking food commercials for the indigenous wildlife. The recent bear attacks on two teenagers come to mind.

Apparently the kids who were attacked by a pissed off Grizzly bear saw them as either  a) a threat to her cubbies and or b) lunch. The group of 6 kids were part of a month long leadership conference - and what leadership skills could be learned as bait is my question?

You know at the beginning of a movie, right after the trailers and just before the main attraction there is the "turn your cell phone off" bit along with the walking soda and popcorn figures? Those irritate me - they do. I can just imagine how a bear must feel seeing what amounts to the same thing.

Those kids looked like Chips-Ahoy to them, so it's no surprise that momma bear, teaching her young to not only eat but to kill stuff because they are the TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN!

If I'm sitting in my living room watching Sportscenter and a 6 pack of Sandies walk through the room you can bet your ass they won't make it to the other side. It's just how shit works. We live in a world where opportunities must be taken advantage of.

So I have to question the decision making of these "lucky to not be half digested bear poop" kids, and more importantly their mommies and daddies. What can be learned about "leadership" in Alaska - the least densely populated state in the nation?

I'm sure there was no malevolence involved, no conspiracy to whack the kids - just plain stupidity and ignorance. You send your kids to Afghanistan for a month, there are only so many options that are possible in terms of what your kids will learn. Opium farming, radical Islam, terrorism or postmortem.