every minor act of meanness isn't abuse, every minor violation or inconvenience isn't rape, and for heaven's sake, pornography is not a catchall label for "anything I don't like."

Yes, thank you. Taking away the kid's lolly is a mean trick, but it's not abuse. Especially since, after the photo is taken, they give it back.

I think that the fact that these kids are willing to scream their hearts out over having a lollipop taken away shows just how well they are treated by their parents to begin with. When I was a kid, if someone took something away from me, it was a fact of life and I knew better than to yell about it.