Are the kids really free...?

Since Alihan's former roommate Aidai is on her way home to land of the free(?) it got me thinking about how free these kids really are. Ok in the orphanage they were told what to do and when to do it(i.e Go potty now!). We strongly believe Alihan was abused in more ways than one. Since the boys are now playing hockey I really started to wonder why do we have so many rules for American kids. Many of you know that Julia figure skates. Well the only place she can do that is on the West side of Madison. Unfortunately when we looked for a house 9 years ago, we bought one on the East side close to my job. Well Ok no big deal, we will just sign the boys up for the West Madison hockey club so they can skate at the same Ice arena to make this work. Problem solved, right? Well no so fast, the Wisconsin youth hockey assoc. rules state the boys would need to skate on the east side(Hs district) if they want to join a competitive team. Great now they are being told what to do again, even though there is no way in heck they will ever attend an east side HS. We will move some day, but unfortunately the govt. screwed up the economy. Oh I could always request a release for the boys, but it sounds like it would need to be a really cold day before that is granted. So really, how free are American kids? The boys have made some good friends playing hockey and in a couple of years I will have to say: "Sorry guys, but someone made a rule and nobody really cares about how you feel!" If you ask me, parents have ruined youth sports! You have parents pushing their 6 year old to specialize in something year round to beat the 1-1,000,000 odds and be the next pro superstar, instead of just letting the child enjoy their childhood. I just shake my head, because 6 months ago Alihan was labeled as being an 'orphan', so now he comes to the US and is labeled by what side of town his parents live on. Nice! Some of this PO's me, because I have met some incredible parents in the hockey club. There have been a few that have gone out of their way to be helpful and I am really going to miss them when we are forced to leave the club. So really, how free are the kids?

I have noticed a bunch of people lurking again, some in Madison even. What do people think, am I wrong? Do we think that all these rules will somehow yield a better child than others from another country?

Oh yeah, I took over the blog again...........
Sounds like Aidai will be home soon, hopefully her mother had a better trip than the nightmare from HE-double-hockey stix I had with the facilitators..............