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I remember doing things as a boy that would probably not be allowed to happen today lest the parents be dragged into court on child neglect charges.

Just one example: I remember crossing this railroad bridge on a regular basis. So long as a train wasn't coming, you were okay but there was no room whatsoever to stand aside when a train came over it. Well one morning I wasn't too careful and got caught in the middle of the bridge as an ear-splitting train whistle went off behind me. I literally had to hang off the railing of the bridge, dangling about 80 feet over the river, as the train whizzed by just a few inches from me.

I learned to always be careful of train tracks from that point on. But would a boy be able to cross that bridge today without the police being called (by the train engineer) and having the kid and parents dragged into court?

As a kid, we went swimming unsupervised where if we got into trouble, we were on our own. We went deep into the woods, explored caves, abandoned houses and other fun stuff. We made a tree house high up in the trees and once, one of the boys slipped coming down and broke his leg. But there were no lawsuits, no recriminating parents, no paperwork to fill out. The rest of us were back up in the treehouse that afternoon lamenting our friends sorry fate (and then laughing about it).

We used to have fist-fights in the schoolyard. A good way to settle childhood disputes or settle the score with some bully. But that would never happen today in our "zero-tolerance" environment for violence. One of my own kids was tormented by bullies one year and I told him to fight back and I gave the principal at the school a heads up. But the principal calls me and tells me that fighting back is not the solution and that if my boy was to fight the bullies on school property, he would have to file a report with the police about our conversation and consider my son the aggressor!

Another situation a few years ago. I dropped my son off at Little League practice, did a few errands and came back. I got a tongue-lashing from one of the other parents for leaving my child at practice alone. My kid was 12 years old at the time! Apparently I was supposed to bring a lawn chair and watch every single minute of every single practice just like the other over-protective moms and dads.

What a pussy-whipped society we live in today.