In order to operate a motor vehicle, one must first obtain a drivers license. To practice medicine or the law, a license is required as well. To fire a pistol, sell alcohol, provide first aid, educate schoolchildren...

However, the only requirement for bringing a child into the world is that your gonads have matured fully and you can accomplish the task of sexual intercourse one time. Why is it that all human beings are allowed to procreate at free will? Should not a license be required for this undertaking as well?

The physical capability to propogate the species does not necessarily give us all the skills nor the right to do so. If we have to sit in a classroom and learn how to properly use our directional when entering a highway, why should we not have to receive such an education on the subject of the care and upbringing of children?

Loving a child and giving it food, clothes, shelter and schooling are the barest minimum of needs that must be met when it comes to parenting. But meeting all of these does not mean that one's job as a parent is done nor does accomplishing these establish a person as a good parent.

Whatever happened to a child's safety? Security? Stability? Self-esteem?

Everyday we are bombarded with stories of youngsters in tragic, heartbreaking, even preventable situations. And the first question on everyone's lips is..."Where are the parents?"

Almost two years ago, a teenager from a middle class Long Island neighborhood - abetted by a group of friends - threw a frozen turkey at an oncoming car late at night just before Thanksgiving. The driver of the car, a middle aged woman, very nearly lost her life. Though she survived, she underwent extensive reconstructive surgery and her life is forever changed.

But the morning after the incident, when the story was all over local news channels and in all the papers, the query of the day was "Where were the parents?". Why were these teenagers running around town in the middle of the night buying frozen turkeys? Where would they even get the idea of throwing it at a moving vehicle?

Just the other day, my mother was making a trip to the bank. After exiting she noticed a running car parked at the curb out front with two children in it - a three year old and an infant. She waited a few minutes to see where their mother was. After almost ten minutes and no sight of a parent, she called the police. These are the same type of people who would have cried "Why me?" had their children been abducted.

Far too many children are robbed of their youth and innocence because of "where were the parents" situations. Am I wrong to think that people must be educated on the subject in order to even attempt to successfully raise a child?

Granted there are things that just can't be prevented. And there will be people who will always be poor parents ragardless of how much guidance you give them. But it would certainly be worthwile to weed through the ones whose idea of parenting is to put bubble wrap around the child and just hope for the best.