Re: Children: Just as I'm mulling over your musings, Razor, on modern parenting and related issues, I checked in at Iain Murray's blog, The Edge of England's Sword, and found this post by Iain's wife, fretting over how much TV her daughter should be watching. I don't have kids, so I'm the least qualified to get into this, but I think you're onto something. Maybe because it is so easy (relative to the very inconventient centuries past) to care for the basic needs of child's health and well being, parents are now searching for more "needs" to address. It's not enough to put a kid in the corner with a coloring book, what are they learning from it? Is it a valid assertion of a three year-old's independence to put pudding in the VCR, or does it show his desire to feed the world? Adults try so hard to shape and understand these little minds and I don't know if it's getting the kids anywhere or not. Just as you don't advocate putting them back to work at age 6, I don't think vegging in front of the tube is good for kids (it did little good for me as a kid), but maybe it's not the end of the world. You've certainly seen a kid take a spill and cry for a few minutes. They're usually back up and running again after a few minutes, once they figure out they're okay and Mom or Dad gives 'em a little love. And what do we always say? "Kids, they're so resilient." I suspect their minds are as well, and that with a little encouragement at the proper time, they'll find television to be less interesting as they get older. And by then they'll be necking in the backseat of a Volvo and Mom will be wishing they'd stay home and watch Survivor.