Worse than that, I'm afraid. Someone at the store permitted the cover of a photography book to become visible to passing customers, exposing a photo of a partially nude woman.

Like any healthy male, the grade schooler stood transfixed at the sight -- until Mom threw an award-winning hissy fit, a performance that included demanding the store remove all photography books from the shelves, lest "some innocent child have to look at that disgusting filth."

I might be about 4,000 college credits shy of a child psychology degree. But it's fairly obvious that any image that causes adults to lose their cool is going to attract -- not turn off -- the kids.

Had she walked past the offending photo as if it were the image of a transmission gear on the cover of "Popular Mechanics," chances are Junior never would have given it another thought.

I tried to ask the woman what she feared would happen to her child from being exposed to a casual view of female anatomy, but she was way beyond rational.

I've heard parents make similar statements when their children were exposed to everything from racy scenes in movies to gay couples walking down the street holding hands. It's always puzzling how simple explanations along the lines of "That's what people look like in their birthday suits" or "Those two women just happen to love each other," never surface.

It would surprise this woman, and many other parents, to know that kids in European countries see nude people in magazines, catalogs, on network TV and in everyday life without becoming rapists, murderers and sociopaths. She also might be shocked to learn that many countries with more relaxed attitudes toward nudity have far lower rates of sex crimes and child abductions than this one.

Worse yet, we already live in a world with childproof bottles, restaurants that ban smoking because it might harm the little ones, and mandatory recycling programs so the kids will have a clean planet in which to grow up.

In convenience stores, adult magazines can only be sold wrapped in protective bags to ensure that no one under 18 gets a glimpse of what many kids already know lurks under their clothing.

I'm not advocating that parents buy their kids subscriptions to "Nudism Today." But expecting the world to wear a fig leaf for the kids' sake is an idea so silly, even the kids can see through it.

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