Parents these days....

Here's an interesting story: a A 16 year-old girl met a Jordanian guy on MySpace, lied to her parents to get a passport, then flew all the way to the Middle East to meet him before U.S. officials met her at the airport and convinced her to go back home.

Her mother, questioning how it was possible, said "I just don't understand with all these new laws protecting America how a 16-year-old kid could get out of the country."

Hmm.

"These new laws" have more to do with keeping bad people out than decent people in. Currently, children do not need notarized permission slip to exercise their freedom of movement. Contrary to what mothers may prefer, we are not yet a police state.

When I was 16, I traveled to France for a couple of weeks for a student exchange, and let me tell you -- it wasn't that hard to get out of the U.S. In my opinion, that was a good thing. It made me feel like an adult, and that I should act like it. There wasn't anyone I could blame if I messed up.

U.S. officials have enough stuff to worry about. I don't think we should burden them further with baby-sitting responsibilities for teenagers.