But this could be illustrative of the possible growing overall tendency to call in the law enforcement into every quarrel or dispute. A bit unnerving, no?

Man, if ever there were a spokes-toon who looked like he was designed by committee...

Well, after he sodomized Hamburgler with a broom handle, there wasn't much they could do.

You know, 30 years ago, that type of phone call never would have happened. (yes I know 911 didnt exist back then, but work with me here. assuming it HAD existed....) back then, people spanked their kids (no, i'm not advocating we go back to those days), and no one would have thought twice about joking around about shooting your kid. It was a joke, and intelligent people could recognize it as such.

Think about it.. how often did parents threaten to "skin your hide," or "give you something to cry about"? Parents used to threaten kids like that back in the 40's and 50's, and nobody thought anything of it. They didn't go to court over it either. It wasn't child abuse back then.

Now i'm not advocating that we return to those days and begin to whack our kids all over the planet, but I think we've lost touch with reality sometimes. Parents today seem really confused about how to disclipine their kids.

Sometimes I think we've become the type of society where we need the goverment to hold our hands for us instead of thinking for ourselves. We have lawyers to watch our every move, and instead of our parents threatening to skin our hides, we have lawyers in the court room who will do it for them.
In the process of trying to be politically correct, we've lost touch with reality.
for the record, i'm 42, married with 2 teenagers. they're great kids and I didnt spank when they were little. But I did teach them respect, first and foremost, and I wish more parents today would figure out how to do the same thing.
but maybe they're just "too busy".

"Now i'm not advocating that we return to those days and begin to whack our kids all over the planet, but I think we've lost touch with reality sometimes."

I don't see why we don't do that. A couple of swats on the rear doesn't do any real harm, gets the kid's attention, and let them know that there is a real and tangible penalty for breaking the rules.

"Parents today seem really confused about how to disclipine their kids."

They seem to be more confused about whether or ont they sohld discipline them. After all, why bother to do it yourself when there's the police department, the schools, social services, and all the other wonderful organs of government out there that are not only ready, but apparently rathre eager to do the job for you?

FYI - I wouldn't call this a growing trend (though two stories in a week is a little unusual). I"ve been dealing with pretty similar types of calls for 15 years and they haven't been any more or less frequent in any given year. Seems that about the same numbers of whackjobs somehow find out how to call the police.

Isn't this all part of the "It takes a village" mentality?
If I get bad service, I leave. Maybe I'm just getting older and don't have the energy any more, but I've got better things to do than stand around and argue about a freakin' fast food burger.