Half-Baked Mama

Let’s all agree on this one issue — any woman who tans to this excess has some serious issues besides the impending cancer that is likely in her future.

This half-baked mama needs help.

Therapy.

For all those body image issues of hers.

It probably doesn’t come as a shock to anyone who actually knows this woman that she was arrested for exposing her 5-year-old daughter to the ultra-violet rays of a tanning booth.

The school nurse reported that the child showed up with burns. Mom says the child was in the booth but not in the tanning bed.

It’s hard to believe that, given mom’s obvious obsession with tanning. I’m sure the courts will ferret all that out.

Stranger yet is the media focus on this case only plays into the problem. It’s what I call the headless chicken dance.

We all stop and gawk at the headless chicken dance.

We never stop to ask ourselves — is this healthy? This gawking habit of ours?

We are horrified and amused at the same time.

Horrified that any woman would tan as excessively as this woman obviously does.

Horrified that she may or may not have exposed her child to that tanning.

But then we are mildly amused by it all, amused enough that this story makes headline news while other more troubling child abuse cases go ignored and unreported.

Because nothing entertains us quite like a freak show, even when that freak show endangers children.

The real issue isn’t whether the child was exposed to ultra-violet rays or not. The real issue is that the child is clearly living with a mother who lacks discernment and likely suffers from some mental disorders.

And, what, pray tell are we doing about that?