Because I read a small collection of parent blogs, I often find myself following link after link to different parenting websites, on which they discuss news articles about children, such as this one. Headline: 'Girls Swallows 30 Magnets, Steel Balls.'

Give it a gander, please. I'll wait.

...

Now, at first I was merely mortified at the idea of even several magnets inside of anyone's body. Then as I watched the video, I noted how strangely... strange this little girl seemed. You may chalk it up to stage fright, but then I thought, how in the world could an 8-year-old kid be misguided enough to swallow THIRTY of those things? Not one, not a handful, but THIRTY? After a couple wouldn't she realize they might not be candy? Especially if they came in a box that said MAGNETIX?

Maybe she is disabled.

With this theory, perhaps it is not the best idea for her parents to leave a disabled child alone with a toy with small magnetic parts. But wait! "He says he and his wife were in the same room as Haley in their Huntingburg home when she consumed the items, and they didn't even realize it."

Bwa?!?!

I know there's really nothing I can do about the degenerative state of parenting in the world these days, but I can still express my utter shock and disbelief. I see poor parenting all the time - less now than when I was in NYC, but more than I normally would here because I work with children. It upsets me, but also gives me more admiration for parents who do well with their children and mentally gears me up for the challenge of my own parenting. You know, in five years or something.

But seriously. Thirty magnets? While they were IN THE ROOM? Maybe they neglected to mention that the room was their bedroom and they were asleep.