Charlie Sykes Move Over. Mark Belling: The New Expert on Child Raising

Not content to let Charlie Sykes corner the market on telling Wisconsinites how to raise their children, Mark Belling  has some sage advice and opinions for those of you disappointed that the 18th century work-houses of Oliver Twist's day are no longer thriving.

Pete Kennedy at GMtoday, wrote a thoughtful piece, Don't fill up the cup, Arrowhead drug testing a ‘really stupid’ idea , questioning the wisdom and the constitutionality of the Arrowhead High School drug testing policy.

Belling, eloquently jumps into the discussion with this profundity, Way to Go Arrowhead,

The presumption that a high school kid has rights is precisely the attitude that empowers them to make bad decisions.

The illogic, the misunderstanding of the Constitution, and the sheer stupidity of this comment makes The Three Stooges, yes, all seven of them, presidential contenders.

Anyone who raised a child in the last 50,000 years knows that the most powerful force in the universe is teenage peer group pressure. It is  that scourge that parents must continually battle in an effort to minimize not just the bad, but the scary, the stupid, and the silly decisions that kids make.

As for the notion that kids have no rights, I guess Mr. Belling missed the last two hundred years in this country. When it comes to kids:

• Kids are persons and are protected from predators be they strangers or abusive parents.
• Kids do not have to work for seven cents an hour for twelve hours a day, six days a week - I know, more "nanny state" interference with a free market economy.
• Kids can own property and have assets, through trust funds that are carefully regulated and monitored by federal and state law.
• In almost every instance the provisions of the United States Constitution applies to children. The exceptions of some rights that are omitted that children do not enjoy is a very short list.
• Most of the Constitutional protections in the first Ten Amendments apply to children.

Belling goes on to tell a mother who cannot afford a $600 ticket for the Hannah Montana concert:

... the angry mother ought to consider instilling in her children acceptance of the harsh reality that in life we don’t get everything we want and that the things that we desire are in our reach only if we work for them.

Yes, little Susie, the way George W. Bush worked for his fortune, the way the rip off artists at Halliburton worked for theirs, the way Jack Abramoff and his cronies and the crooks at Enron, all worked for theirs.

Mark, here is some better advice for a nine year old girl:

We have to make choices in life about what to do with our money. It might be nice to go to a Hannah Montana concert, but think of all the things we give up, better things.  Maybe one day you will have enough money to do things like that but for now it will have to wait. In the meantime, understand there are people in this world like Mark Belling, who are materialists who place the value of everything in terms of money. Dear, there are other things in life to value like love, clean water, fresh air, and getting the likes of Stephen Nass (R) out of the legislature. 

Comments

[Dan Sebald]

"The exceptions of some rights that are omitted that children do not enjoy is a very short list."

The parent/child privacy right thing is still in legal limbo... Stay out of my room! Ehh!

[Marius]

"The presumption that a high school kid has rights is precisely the attitude that empowers them to make bad decisions."

Just like adults.

[Jess Wundrun]

I'm not sure if I understand this correctly: two human cells joined together from sperm and ova should have full constitutional rights. Teens, a mass of trillions of cells, should not have any rights. When, exactly, are these rights forfeited, in the conservative mind?

[buckyblue]

Belling did an entire portion of his show about a month ago about why Arrowhead is so much better than other schools at everything but especially sports. I didn't listen for his answer but am sure that it has to do with the level of competition that they force their kids into. Not quite sure why he has such a thing for Arrowhead, the implications of the random drug testing are astounding. But given Arrowhead's rather major drug issue, perhaps it is warranted.