IT’S ALL FUN & GAMES UNTIL THE MEDIA GETS HYSTERICAL

How did we ever survive our childhoods? Two separate news items this week warn not to let your children play at the beach or in their bathtubs. The first comes from a study by the University of North Carolina which spent $63,000 of taxpayer money to discover that kids who dig in the sand at the beach are 13 percent more likely to get a stomach ailment and 20 percent more likely to get diarrhea than kids who are forced to sit quietly under a beach umbrella wearing their bicycle helmets (okay, I made that last part up). Meanwhile, the journal Pediatrics published data which found that 120 children are injured every day while playing in the shower or bathtub. Which is fine because they won’t need baths anymore if they never go outside and play. (SignOnDanDiego.com / Wbaltv.com)