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Do waivers do anything? I recently had a minor medical procedure and signed about a dozen times on papers hastily waved under my nose. This can not constitute informed consent in any sense of those words. If I want to sue someone for good or for silly reasons, does my hasty signature stop this in any way?

Nobody’s ever been injured looking for the Afikomen at our Passover seders. (We can’t sign a wavier on “Yom Tov” anyway, so it’s a moot point.)

If someone inadvertently blasphemes the Easter Bunny, they might get struck by lightning.

I assumed the waivers were prompted by stories last Easter Egg Hunt season, of parents behaving badly, trying to give their kids a Lori Loughlin-style “edge” by ignoring rules, age-limited areas, etc. Got to the point of pushing, shoving and fist fights on occasion as I recall.

Why any self-respecting kid over the age of five would be happy about waiting half an hour to walk out on a lawn and pick up five (and only 5) plastic eggs escapes me. Hunt?

So, before I sign this paper, please inform me [Raises Voice So I Can Be Heard Two Counties Over] HOW MANY CHILDREN HAVE BEEN PARALYZED AND KILLED IN THE LAST TEN YEARS OF EGG-ROLLING?

[mumbled response to the effect of none]

OH MY GOD! THAT MANY? WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING TO CHILDREN?

Bob

Somebody’s been watching too much Monty Python. Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.

@Bob Becker–

Although I am unfamiliar with UC Berkeley’s experience, I suspect your explanation is correct– parents behaving badly Lenore Skenazy posts occasional stories like that, as another example of “helicopter parenting” out of control.

Rather than merely protecting themselves, UC Berkeley might try to clean things up a little by adding the following paragraph to the consent agreement:

“I accept that this event may be under video surveillance, and that children– and especially parents– behaving in an aggressive or unsportsmanlike manner can have their actions posted on the Internet for identification, public shaming, and in serious cases prosecution.

The agreement might contain a short preamble explaining why it is necessary.

They warned us in the ’50s that the Bunny Hop was dangerous. For licentiousness ad absurdum, see Berkeley.

Look. The problem is tort liability, especially the exhorbitant cost of even minor injuries treated at the local emergency room.

I would argrue that, as a society, we should be willing to have our children get injured. That is what happens when they take chances. We should mitigate the risk as it applies to parents of young children, who may be in the worst position of all to absorb the cost.

I hear conservatives bemoan the fact that Americans are having too few children and that is why we are in the ‘unfortunate’ position of needing more immigrants. That sounds like a societal problem. Perhaps if we made having children less costly, people would have more. We subsidize companies for capital investments, we can do the same for families. IMHO, it’s all about the incentives.

Pet Peeve Alert!

From the cited article: According to the waiver, which was obtained by Reason,…..

If you are going to use a document as a source, link to the document so the rest of the world can see it.

we already subsidize children for low income parents… EITC anyone?

Children might look more like an attractive investment if Social Security benefits were supplemented by a percentage of the Social Security taxes being paid by one’s children.