Government gets involved with babysitting!

I said a few days ago that you can't make this stuff up. And yet each and every day I am left wondering exactly what to talk about. There's just so much out there that to pick one almost seems like a disservice.

But today it was a very simple task. You see the Government (this time in the form of the State Government represented by Michigan Department of Human Services), has decided that in order for you to drop off your kids at a neighbor's house for an hour - the neighbor needs to be running a registered child care facility.

Here's the background. Every day before school, Lisa Snyder helped out three of her fellow mom's by watching the kids prior to them getting on the school bus. In other words, it was a morning play date!

But, not long after the school year started, Lisa Snyder received a letter. In it, she was warned by the Michigan Department of Human Services that if she continued to be a good neighbor, she'd be violating a law aimed at the operators of unlicensed day care centers!

There are no other issues in Michigan that require the attention of the State. Everything is just peachy!! And Snyder was in fact just returning a favor - the other mom's often watching each other's kids in the evenings and at weekends. By the way - Snyder's home is a designated school bus stop in a rural community six miles from school!

But all is not lost! Common sense seems to be making an appearance with agency Director Ismael Ahmed saying late yesterday that good neighbors should be allowed to help each other ensure their children are safe. Gov. Jennifer Granholm instructed Ahmed to work with the state Legislature to change the law, he said.

Not sure why it takes an instruction from the Governor, but there you go!

How many times do we have to go here? Last week we had the Federal Government getting involved in garage sales!!!! What's next?? Lemonade stands? Oh no - wait a minute. That's already happened.