Toddlers 'n Tiaras for Little Boys

The London Telegraph is reporting on a mushrooming controversy over recently emerged video footage of eight-year-old children fighting in Mixed Martial Arts cage matches. The paper reports that in one video a "smaller looking boy is repeatedly kicked in the head while his arm is twisted by the other young competitor." No head gear, naturally. The practice is being called "disturbing" by British children's health officials.

Say what you want about the Brits, they remain the world's champions in understatement.

Chris Cloke, Head of Child Protection Awareness at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said, "We would strongly discourage parents from letting their children take part in this kind of fighting."

That kind of judgment, folks, is how you rise to the Head of Child Protection Awareness at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Event attendee Michelle Anderson defended the spectacle, saying: “The parents were there. Would people rather these kids were out on the streets with guns and knives?"

Shoot, I don't know Michelle. Is it an either/or situation? So either these little boys are beating the smack out of each other while their parents cheer or they are out on the streets with guns and knives? Heck, who's to say that this human version of cock-fighting isn't keeping these kids from being out on the streets with nuclear weapons?

The problem, of course, isn't that the kids engaging in this disturbing fighting. Like the television show "Toddlers 'n Tiaras" and "Kate Plus 8" and "Dance Moms" (it's disturbing me how many of these I know), the problem is that THE KIDS' PARENTS ARE LETTING THEM AND EVEN PUSHING THEM TO DO IT.

I see articles all the time about the fastest growing occupations. You can't tell me that therapist isn't one of those.

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