Balloon Boy Rant

I feel like I shouldn't even be bringing this up because it is complete nonsense, but I'm going to anyway. Ever since the news broke last week about a boy floating around Colorado in a helium party balloon I had doubts about the authenticity of the story but the news media didn't. All of the networks decided to drop REAL important stories like the war in Afghanistan and National health care reform to chase around a bright shiny object. Cable news loves a good distraction don't they?

Now lets break this all down using common (or not so common as it turns out) sense.

• Richard and Mayumi Heene blow up and release a helium filled balloon in their backyard and have no idea where their three children are. Hmm? *scratches head*
• A six year old boy is reported to be inside the overgrown mylar birthday balloon. I have not personally weighed young Falcon myself but I do have 2 children ages 5 and 7 and can guess that a 6 year old would weigh roughly 40-60 pounds. Of course helium is lighter than air, but we've all seen the video of the balloon floating around and from my untrained eye (I am no scientist, but neither is Richard Heene) I am almost certain that there is no way in hell that balloon could carry away a 6 year old. NO WAY!
• The balloon lands and surprise surprise no Falcon.
• Dad saves the day when he shows up in front of television cameras holding the boy with an explanation that the boy was hiding in the garage attic. The family then goes on to be interviewed by every news organization and tabloid TV show complete with young Falcon throwing up twice Friday morning on national TV while he should have been at home or better yet in SCHOOL.

All I can say is WHAT THE HELL? It's obvious that the parents, or at least the father, Richard is a fame-whore but why drag those innocent children into a life of chaos? The family appeared on the train wreck of a reality show Wife Swap not once but twice and were thrilled to act out in front of the camera in hopes of landing their own reality show and cashing in big. The whole thing makes my stomach turn. I can't help but wonder what those kids are thinking especially today if charges are filed against their parents. I'm sure those kids believe in their dad and think that he's cool for spending time with them doing these unorthodox science experiments, but what at what cost to them?

I think the parents should be punished for this ridiculous stunt but not at the expense of their children. I have no idea if these people are unfit to be caring for 3 young boys but I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt. I just hope that if in fact they are charged and convicted that the judge would order them to never be on television ever again or make money in any way off of this child exploiting experience.

*End rant*

The Importance of Underpants

This morning as I helped my girls get undressed for swimming class, there was a little girl on the other side of the locker room having a bit of a meltdown. She was all done with her lesson and was getting dressed, but quite upset that she had not packed any undies in her swim bag. She couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 and was not accompanied by her mom, just 2 other girls roughly the same age. I walked over and tried to calm her as I instructed my girls to make one more pass through the bathroom before their lesson. I tried to calm her down and suggested she just dry up and get dressed without undies, but she wailed louder. I asked the other girls with her if there was an adult along. The oldest girl said the crying girl's dad was waiting outside. Go figure!

There was nothing more I could do. I offered to help her get dressed but she was still inconsolable. I left the locker room feeling terrible for the little girl. I scanned the hallway for her father, but he wasn't there. This little girl probably would have been fine on her own during normal circumstances, but this was too much of a deviation from the normal swim class routine. And where was her dad? Come on parents! It's not another parent's responsibility or right to calm, dress or console your child. I was willing to help but she wanted her dad and not some stranger, understandably.

It would have been fine if her dad had come in to help her once things got out of control. By that time the locker room was pretty much cleared out and left were only small children being helped by their moms. Definitely not child porn, no men allowed type of environment.

At the end of class when I went back into the locker room to help dress my girls, she was gone.