I love children, I love seeing what their little minds come up with, fascinated by their smarts and their ability to make me laugh. My friends’ children are great and when they do act up, most of them get reined back in by their parents. The children I used to babysit were generally well behaved and when they disobeyed by I employed tactics inspired by my mother.
But, I have noticed that not all children are reprimanded and generally their parents tend to giggle, sigh and say, “Well, they are just kids being kids.” And this is where I start to wonder when parents stopped doing their job. And do they realize that they are setting them up for failure?
My new apartment complex houses a good number of these children. They run and scream at all times of the night and day–it doesn’t matter what the weather is either. The parents? Well, I am beginning to think this is just like the shows on tv, they are never seen or heard from. In today’s world, not everyone is nice. There are stories all the time about kids being snatched waiting for the bus or playing in their front yard. Yet, these parents let them roam free without a care in the world. I am actually waiting on Nancy Grace to make an appearance here since this is just asking for trouble.
The children also don’t mind trying to get you to play with them, in an effort, one can only assume, to entertain them since their parents are nowhere to be found. And they get irritated when you say that you cannot entertain them.
My old place had some kids around but you never heard from them. There were incidences at the pool where the parents sat and drank, assuming if that sweet little darling started to drown, someone else would deal with it. Umm, no; I keep one eye out for any issues but I thought that if I were at the pool reading, that it was quite clear that I was trying to relax. Plus, why should I parent your kid (whose name I do not know) while you are having “me” time.
One of my friend’s children mentioned that while I was fun to hang out with, I sure did have a lot of rules. LOL, yes my dear sweet boy, that I love like crazy, I will not let you wander off when I am supposed to be taking you to the zoo! I kind of have this rule, I leave with two kids, two kids come back. It’s not like there is a store that replaces smart, cute kids that I can run through and pick up replacements!
The kicker to all of this is that I grew up in a much different time and yet my parents were stricter with me then than these parents are with their kids. And the world is not as nice as it used to be. A perfect example of a child raised with no guidance or rules, Lindsay Lohan. . .and to be quite honest, I don’t want to be around children like that. And I especially don’t want to hear the parents blaming the teachers and giving looks as if they are confused why no one cares for their precious little child who currently is tearing a tree down.
Stumbling Through Life 