Summer, and the rantin' is easy

A while back I posted about my annoyance with a day camp that required parents to sign a release acknowledging that the camp did not carry liability insurance.

New summer, new camp, new rant.

This camp requires parents to sign a release of the camp and every affiliated person or entity from all negligence claims. (In oversimplified terms, negligence means you made a mistake that caused someone else to get hurt.)

First, I want to acknowledge that this particular camp is priced and has additional financial aid to allow participation by kids from families of all income levels. It is possible the release lowers the price of its liability insurance, or that the camp administration believes (wrongly) that the release eliminates the need for such insurance. I do not in any way intend to minimize the effect of the cost of insurance, and the effect it might have on the camp's ability to serve all populations.

But . . . I am sending my elementary-school aged child to you. As I have written many times before, accidents happen. If an accident happened because you made a mistake -- and I'm not going to list all of the possible mistakes you can make while caring for a bunch of little kids -- and as a result a kid is permanently disabled, unable to work, unable to care for himself -- you have a moral obligation to defray the expenses for care that will follow the kid for the rest of his life. The good news is, you don't have to pay it yourself, you can get insurance. That's what it's there for.

Having adequate insurance is simply the responsible thing to do.