Parental responsibility, or not?

Sorry I've been blog-remiss agin .. of course the fact that Blogger's password recovery tool just doesn't work maybe had alittle to do with it. Once again, you get what you pay for .. memo to add to to-do list, but my own blog software on my own site to avoid 'big brother's special brand of customer non-service.

Anyway, speaking of big brother, here's a neat tale about a tryout of a child-protection GPS tracking application:

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/news/052405_NW_r2_black_box.html

Aside from the atrocious 'valley-speak' from the parents as well as the son .. 'It was like... he said 'it was like..' etc., when you drill down through the TV reporter drivel there is actually some meat in the story.

Two parents with a teenage son who just started driving. They took the TV station up on their offer to put the device in the son's truck for a few weeks as a trial. The good part? As expected the son slowed down and drives more responsibly by direct observation. Better for the parent's peace of mind, better for the other users who share the road, and better for the son too, he just may avoid becoming an accident or even fatality statistic.

Funny thread running through the story though. "denying the boy his freedom" and similar phrases and tones. The son almost refused to try the system out ... and the sad part of the story is, apparently, he had a choice.

Guess what, parents ... you werre given children in order to raise them properly. You are the boss. Since when has this country turned into a nation of appeasers and indecisive Simon Milktoasts?

Parent or business manager, take on the responsibilities you own by virtue of your position and _execute_ them. Is it easy? heck no, that's why you were blessed to be a parent or supervisor. Is it wothwhile though? yes indeed, and more importanly, when you fail to take make the right vhoice, even when that is not the easy choice, you're violating trust placed in you ... and in the end, refusing to live up to your responsibility is going to hurt even more.