News & Views

There are some people who have kids for whom the word "parent" just doesn't fit. Take the parents in eastern Ohio who police say liked to "discipline" their three kids by putting them in plastic storage containers.

Cops say the kids were 5, 7, and 8, and when their parents got angry, they'd put them inside the containers. Then they'd seal them shut with duct tape.

The only concession for comfort -- if you could call it that -- was a hole cut in the boxes for air. I wouldn't call any of this parenting, would you? 

I think the term "monster" might apply better here.

What's so confusing about this case to me is who, in their right mind, would think to do such a thing? It's a question we could ask of any child abuse case -- hurting innocent children is wrong, period. But some cases are easier to suss out.

A child gets hit or slapped, and you think, OK, that's very wrong, but physical violence has been going on in this world for as long as there have been people. It's not good, and there is no defense, but we can logically approach the case and how it should be handled in the courts.

Then there are cases that defy logic. They're the cases where the horrors done to kids are so unspeakable that the people charged with doing them cease to sound like people at all: they're inhuman. They're monsters.

There are things that you simply don't do to another human being -- whether they're a child or an adult. Putting someone in a plastic storage container and duct taping it shut is near the top of that list.

The "parents" by the way, are facing charges of endangering children and unlawful restraint. Two other people who allegedly knew this was going on are also in trouble with the cops.

What do you think should be done to the people who would do this to kids?

Image via petercastleton/Flickr