Earlier today I took my five year-old grandson to the local playground and was looking forward to showing him how to climb on the monkeybars. I was aghast when I discovered that the monkeybars had been taken down years before, all because some kid fell and cracked open his noggin like a ripened coconut. Maybe children these days have softer heads, I don't know. When I was a boy I had climbed all over the monkeybars and fell numerous times, and I turned out just fine. These days, parents coddle their kids so much that if they get a scraped knee they get taken to the emergency room for a full battery of tests. If this continues, in a few years our nation will become one inhabited by a bunch of sissies. You see, kids need to grow up believing that they are strong enough to handle all of life's hardships. Kids need to be made aware that mama's not always going to be around to kiss their boo boos. Fortunately, my parents were keenly aware of this and they ...