Here’s a story that I really, really hope is not the start of a trend. A mom calling the cops on her kid, a 12-year-old boy, having him arrested and taken away in handcuffs.

Why? Robbery? Arson? Dope?

Robbery of a sort. The South Carolina mom, Brandi Ervin, called the police because her son allegedly rummaged through his grandmother’s things for his Christmas present, a Gameboy. Apparently he has played with this game repeatedly.

Just played with the Gameboy again and again. Before Christmas. Sounds like “Godfather IV,” doesn’t it?

The mom says, “My grandmother went out of her way to lay away a toy and paid on this thing for months. It was only to teach my son a lesson.”

I don’t know the daily life in this home. I can imagine that the kid often acts like a brat and does not obey his mother. The mom seems to have a problem disciplining the boy and on that score she has my sympathy.

But I mean, gee whiz, couldn’t she just throw away the present after her son broke the rules? And do it the very first time he played with the game, if he has a history of bratty behavior? If she is overwhelmed, a pastor or friend of the family is the one to go to, not a man with handcuffs.

‘Cause none of us will enjoy the police state that will come about if all parents with disciplinary problems have their kids arrested.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.