Are Crusty Boogers Child Abuse

In Scotland, the state becomes mother-in-law in chief.

- Lenore Skenazy

Are Crusty Boogers Child Abuse?

“Crusts on his face from nasal discharge.” That was just one observation in the 60-page report compiled on a healthy, happy, and apparently snot-nosed 2-year-old, under a new parenting surveillance program in Scotland.

Under the Named Person Act, a professional will be assigned to every child born in that country, and one of these “named persons” will watch how the child is parented for the next 18 years.

You read that right: A government-appointed busybody will oversee the upbringing of every child from the day she is born until she’s no longer a minor.

In August the program becomes mandatory throughout Scotland. But for the past two years it has been rolling out sporadically. After eight months of badgering, one dad managed to get the named person report that was being composed on his two young kids.

That’s the document that lists the crusty nose. It also contains an entry about his son’s thumb-sucking habit.According to an article in The Scotsman, the report referenced “a blister which had appeared on the toddler’s thumb as a result of the childhood habit.”

A toddler sucks his thumb and a bureaucrat is recording this? Actually, it’s worse than that. Elsewhere in the heavily redacted report, there’s a reference to one son’s diaper rash—giving new meaning to “security leak.”