What’s wrong with this picture?
Florida parents move into a backyard tent because their teenagers won’t pick up after themselves.
The able-bodied 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter have only one complaint: the inconvenience of having to relay telephone calls to their parents.
There is one obvious solution: Make the untidy urchins live in the tent instead.
But no. That spartan existence would be more than politically incorrect. It would be considered criminal abuse by child-welfare agencies.
Even though thousands of Floridian children are still living in tents and receiving government assistance while their hurricane-wrecked households are being repaired.
And millions of children elsewhere voluntarily reside in yard and camp tents during balmy summer months.
Hey, it’s balmy most of the time in Florida. (12 DECEMBER 2004)
