I’ll start off with an apology and a warning: today’s subject is serious and something I’m extremely passionate about. Children, especially mine, and how important they are to all of us. You may think, “Duh”. I wish every parent felt the same. Unfortunately I hear and see disgusting things all the time that prove how unimportant some idiots think children are. This comes to mind because of a couple of things I’ve experienced since school started two weeks ago. I won’t bore you with details, but let’s just say I take my neighbor’s daughter to school every morning after we drop the child’s baby off at daycare. I realized she needed a ride after discovering she’d missed the first day of school. Why didn’t her mother make plans for this? Hasn’t she known all summer school would eventually start again? Argh! I don’t mind being a taxi, really I don’t. However, I’m furious that the girl missed the first day of school (and the third for some reason). What if I hadn’t happened by?

The other issue is another neighbor’s child. He eats dinner with us every night. Again, I don’t mind. We have plenty to give. The issue is, they don’t seem to care where he is at dinner time. I can’t eat a meal without knowing my children have eaten too. I simply can’t wrap my mind around this concept of parents caring more for themselves than they do for their children. It’s completely foreign to me. I would sell my ass on the street corner if I had to so my children could eat, seriously. This has always been my attitude since the moment I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter. I was nineteen and unmarried, living in a dorm for my first semester of college. After that semester ended I moved back home, went to the community college and made plans for my baby. My entire world revolves around my children. The only thing I really do for myself is write, but they usually reap the benefits of my royalty checks 🙂

So, can anyone explain this to me in a way that will make sense? How can a parent of children (not adult children of course) do more for themselves than their children? How can they justify this? I can’t stand seeing children is trashy clothes when the parents are in designer duds. It pisses me off to see a parents walking through the store paying more attention to their cell phones than their wandering toddler. We have to take tests to drive and have our cars inspected. Why not test to become parents and require annual home inspections too? Our children are our most precious resource and we’re sadly lacking in their care. It’s sickening. It’s ridiculous.

Just had to get that off my chest.