I've been thinking about the parents in America who acted out accidentally sending their youngest son off in un-piloted flight in a silver saucer-shaped air balloon.

The child had been 'hiding' in the house loft for several hours while the charade was being acted out, while it was filmed and the alarm being raised with the emergency authorities, including the police. The happy families game was then paraded before the media cameras with the youngest child evidently miserable, sitting on the lap of one of his parents, saying he wanted to go that he wanted to vomit.

The parents, who are trained actors, have set stunts before to publicize themselves, though, I believe the stunts were not quite at the level of this one. Following investigation, these hedonistic adults have admitted wasting everyone's time and are now being charged with offences.

What I have not heard, is anything said about the psychological cruelty that has been inflicted on to the youngest child, the poor parenting that has been demonstrated by these morally deficient individuals. I believe this family are worthy of closer examination by the child welfare organisations in America. I hope that not hearing anything about it, does not mean this aspect of the parents' performance has been neglected by the public child protection agencies.