We live in such a politically correct world these days.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for hot dogs to be redesigned.
Food is apparently the leading cause of non-fatal choking hazards for children. 60% of emergency room visits for children are food related. The leading cause of those food related visits are hot dogs. 1,700 emergency room visits are associated specifically with choking issues related to hot dogs.
The Academy of Pediatrics wants to have a warning label added to packages of hot dogs warning of the choking risks for children. To take it a step further, they'd like to see hot dogs redesigned to limit the risk of choking on hot dogs for children. What kind of design should a hot dog have? Giant, square, and the size of a watermelon?
I like kids. I don't want to see anything bad happen to them. However, if everything they could choke on came with a warning label all that would be left are whole watermelon, a whole cow, and mid-size cars.
My friend Brandon's son pulled a hot cup of coffee off of a counter after it was unattended for a second by the boy's babysitter. Little Brandon Jr. got second degree burns on his leg and foot. Horrifying? Sure. Unavoidable? Probably not. Because kids are not programmable. They do things that get them in harm's way every day. As a parent you can protect them the best you can but accidents are unavoidable.
It used to be okay to be a kid and have fun. Fall down and scrape your knee. Eat too much hot dog because you thought it was funny. Just be silly and carefree. Now, a warning label needs to be attached to every possible thing that could even in the slightest cause you harm.
The folks at the American Association of Pediatrics are idiots. Let kids eat their hot dogs. Its one of the only things left that might actually be fun anymore.
