Should people need a license to become parents?

Is it just me? I mean are people so dense as not to see the obvious possibility of danger? Especially at something like a monster truck rally? Or maybe they are just so self absorbed as to ignore this inner voice, just so they can go have fun without shelling out money for a babysitter.

I remember one year my sister-in-law wanted to take my then four year old son to the Shrine Circus. I agreed, she had been to this circus before, I couldn't imagine she would take him anywhere dangerous. At the last moment my mother and I decided to go as well. We thought we could find my sister-in-law pretty easily and sit with them. As it turned out, it was not easy to find anyone at this event so we ended up sitting by ourselves.

I have to tell you that I was frantic from the moment we sat down until I finally got The Boy the hell out of there.

Seriously, I could not imagine how any parent with half a brain would take their children to such an event. As we sat down, they first brought out the elephants. Never in my life have I seen such completely dejected, miserable, joyless looking animals in my life. All I could think of was that if these animals ever decided to just fuck off, there would be absolutely nothing anyone could do. And don't even get me started on the tigers that they had enclosed in a flimsy chain link fence-like pen.

After I finally got to The Boy and we were making our way to the car, I saw other parents leading their children in the opposite direction towards a rather long line. I stopped dead in my tracks and my blood ran cold. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Another of the elephants was fitted with some sort of platform/saddle on his back. Six to eight children were sitting atop this thing while a circus worker was leading the elephant around the parking lot. Looking into the eyes of this animal, it wasn't hard to see it was not happy. The only thing that was stopping this elephant from just taking-the-fuck-off was a chain around its foot the likes of which you might find attached to a German shepherd in your yard.

How could a sane person look at that setup and think, "Oh ya, that looks fuckin' safe enough from my child." Are you kidding me? Give your fuckin' head a shake!

And that was a circus, admittedly geared for child entertainment. I only have to hear the words monster truck to know it is not an event that I would ever take a small child to. I can't imagine what possessed this family to take their children.

I feel bad for this family losing their child but if you want to go to an event like this, please leave your children at home.

Otherwise, when I am Queen, I will revoke your license, Crayon!