We let parents spank kids, ground kids, take away their toys, as punishment. But we don't allow parents to chop off their hands as punishment.
So yeah, we do "draw the line" somewhere. We draw the line on EVERYTHING in society, and that's the nature of society - you need rules in place to keep people from robbing, killing one another.
Right, we draw the line at the point where the person's fundamental and inalienable rights are violated. That's a long line away from food choices.
What if mom sends cigs? What if mom sends jack daniels? What if mom sends a 5 pound bag of SUGAR and the kid just snorts it? What if mom sends cookies that expired ten years ago?
And what if your grandma had wheels? You can come with many silly hypotheticals - it's the nature of the beast. And although I don't particularly care to debunk strawman arguments, I do have a few points to make:
My opinions on alcohol are unconventional; I do not drink, but I find the puritanical and naive attitude towards alcohol that most Americans have to be stupid. I see little harm in allowing children to sample alcohol in controlled circumstances with the approval of their parents. In fact, I see benefits: demystifying a product that is withheld from them, which forces them to seek it out and consume it in a careless fashion.
Unlike you I believe that parents should, in he absence of compelling and overwhelming evidence that they are harming their children be given a wide berth that aren't forced to operate within the confines of what some politicians, some social workers or some nutritionists think.
Unlike you I believe that people are capable of making rational decisions and that should not be compelled to go against their better judgement.
Will people make mistakes? Undoubtedly. But I much prefer that over the alternative of a State-mandated program of child upbringing.
It is
stupid to prohibit parents from packing their own lunch without the approval of a doctor; not only is it a ridiculous overreach, but it's offensive.
I know you're very concerned about the mother that packs cigarettes, alcohol, bags of sugars and expired cookies. But I submit to you that many more mothers pack good, nutritious foods that are orders of magnitude better than the shit that cafeterias out out - at a cost of a few pennies per student. So I find your argument silly.
The point is.... eventually, ALL of us will agree at SOME point, it's okay to intervene.
But this isn't that point. The point is when you can objectively demonstrate that the action (or inaction)9; the parent is violating the child's fundamental rights and interests.
Spanking your child doesn't. Cutting their hands off does.
Letting your kid gorge on trick-or-treat candy doesn't. Forcing him to eat rat poison does.
It's really not a difficult concept.
