Modern Parenting

Parents of three young boys in Britain have been sentenced to nine months in jail for keeping their children in what has been described as "sheer hell" conditions reminiscent of a Charles Dickens novel.

The boys, all under 5, were found by a health worker malnourished and wearing ill-fitting filthy clothes, unable to talk properly and using shouts and screams to communicate.

Jonathan Bush and Nicola Hillier, both 24, of Norwich, told authorities there was no deliberate attempt to harm their children, but they were unable to cope due to financial pressures.

* One of the children was so hungry, he tried to eat a piece of frozen meat from the freezer, while his brother was seen picking a cracker out of an ashtray full of cigarette butts;

* The boys were found wearing diapers so soiled, they were hanging around their knees;

* They played in a garden filled with dog feces, and suffered cuts from broken glass inside the house;

* On one occasion, two of the children were left naked in a playroom with no heat;

* One boy had chipped his collarbone after being left on a sofa, and there was also an unguarded open fire in the living room, with one child suffering burns to his arm.

"Unable to cope due to financial pressures?" What a crock. I nominate these "people" for the Grand Cop-Out Award for 2006. I suppose financial woes explains the filth, the days-old diapers, having broken glass underfoot indoors, and the unattended children huddling around an open fire. Yep, a few extra bucks in the piggy bank would've eliminated those problems.

Despite the ubiquitous filth, Bush's security-officer uniform was found hanging freshly washed and ironed.

What a surprise. I also loved how Judge Slaponthewrist pontificated in the article about the horrible neglect, then deemed a sentence of nine months an appropriate one.

If there was any real justice, these paragons of parenting would be tied to posts in the town square, and beaten with a cat-o'-nine-tails.