I agree. I remember being out walking the dogs and finding a neighborhood child of about three years age standing in the middle of the road at about 10 pm on a cold night in my dark, semi-rural neighborhood, about a block from my house. I knew which house was hers, but I'd never met the parents.

I am usually quite decisive, but I recall a feeling of confusion and slight panic, not wanting to come within 10 feet of the little girl, lest the parents choose that moment to come bursting forth, and mistake me for a child-stealing pervert.

I needed to get her inside, and couldn't leave her in the road to go knock on the parents' door, but I dared not approach her. I began to sort of herd her back home from a "safe" distance, and, sure enough, just then the parents came out, scooped her up, with nary a word to me.

I see kids hurt all the time, sometimes from that moment of inattention, other times from sheer stupidity.

Truly constant vigilance is, in fact, simply impossible to maintain. The kids of obviously good, responsible parents do, indeed, still find ways to get hurt from time to time, and I've seen these parents tearing their guts out over it. I always make a point to offer a word of understanding at these moments. Knowing that we aren't judging them seems to help.

But propping a toddler up on a horse, letting a 10 year old run up and down the road in a four-wheeler, or not using an infant safety seat is pure stupidity. likewise keeping fighting dogs and toddlers, passing out and leaving your booze and pills on a low coffee table, and a seemingly endless list of equally Stoopid Parenting Tricks.

My all-time favorite, though: "Donut Day." A multi-gallon pot full of hot grease, a rickety folding card table, and a classroom full of excited kindergartners running about. Do the math.

Jeff