Take a Few Steps Into an ‘Indulgence Zone’

Maybe it’s no surprise to hear this from a boomer whose Mom lived and breathed Dr. Spock’s permissive philosophy, but I think the time is right for the establishment of a “zone of indulgence” around the Bush daughters.

George and Laura are right: Mom, Dad, Jenna and Barbara should be allowed to work out their youthful slips and stumbles within the privacy of their family.

Neither daughter ran for office. Neither has reached the age of majority--at least not for buying alcohol. And while their Dad isn’t my favorite politician, I do have faith that he and his wife will do a fine job of guiding them through this latest “crisis.”

I may get queasy at the thought of George W. Bush’s judicial nominees, but I actually bet he’s a perfectly adequate Dad.

Then why the bad taste in my mouth?

It’s that I can’t shake all the conservative ranting of the last few years (by Democrats and Republicans) about zero-tolerance policies. All the schools that sent kids home for accidentally packing their asthma inhalant in their backpack. All the states that are moving to prosecute 12-and 13-year-olds as adults, as if every juvenile delinquent were a Hannibal Lecter in training. All the college students denied financial aid because of minor drug offenses.

It’s easy to understand the social fuel for this impulse.

We perceive our world to be a dangerous, random place and our natural instinct is to protect our children from everything from tainted water to deadly school violence.

So, in desperation, we come up with the magic elixir of “zero tolerance” for any infraction. It might only be Tylenol, but if the school has a zero-tolerance drug policy, get packing. Smoke a joint? Lose your Pell Grant.

In a perfect world, would we have zero tolerance for underage drinking? For poor school achievement? For people who speak loudly on their cell phones in public places? For violent criminals whatever their age? Of course.

But none of us live next door to Ward and June Cleaver. They moved out years ago.

We live in the messy world where kids come home late without calling, where parties without drugs and alcohol are few and far between. This is the place where real parents deal with real children and struggle mightily to guide them through the minefield that is the transition to adulthood.

A world where--despite zero-tolerance policies--tolerance and flexibility sometimes might be the only way to rescue a decent kid who does an indecent thing. A world where a 14-year-old tried and convicted as an adult might merit some special consideration or--heaven forbid--even compassion.

And, yes, a world where two normal Texas college kids can act like jerks, get dressed down by their Mom and Dad and not have an entire country breathing down their necks.