Did anyone watch the “Today Show” this week and   see that 7 year old boy who took his parents car last Sunday and took a joyride around his home town of Plain City Utah.  

Young Preston, his mom and dad and his sister, London , got a trip to New York out of his misbehaviour.   Preston is a cute little guy, but definitely mischievious.   I think that rewarding his little adventure with a trip to New York definitely sends him and other little boys and girls the wrong message.

What Preston did was not “cute.”   He could have killed himself or someone else.   His punishment of “no TV or video games for 4 days” seems pretty mild for something that could have had such serious consequences, especially when the end of his punishment was rewarded with a TV appearance.   Even if it meant denying themselves a free trip to New York , I think the show’s request that they appear should have been met with a resounding “no.”   Preston is no celebrity, he is a little boy who did a very bad thing and he was lucky that it didn’t have any permanent consequences on either himself or others.

If Preston was looking for attention, he certainly got more than he could have wished for.   Will his “instant celebrity” lead to more even more serious acting out?   I hope not.