I was going to lunch with a friend the other day and we were driving down a busy area of town and there was a small boy, he couldn't have been more than four or five years old, playing with a large stick. He was maybe three feet from the road and he was shaking that stick at cars as they drove by. He came really close to if not actually hitting a couple of cars from what I could see.
My first instinct, unfortunately, was to grab that child and chap his ass. My second instinct was "Where the FUCK (yes McBunni, I said it, sorry Mom) is this child's Mother/Father/Nanny? My friend and I both looked around for some resemblance of an adult and guess what? NOTHING!!
It wasn't just this particular kid that got me heated. Oh no! It is so much more than just this incident. It's the lady with six kids, one hanging from the boob while the other five are running rampant through the isles of Walmart like wild banshees. It's that little brat that bloodies your heels with the shopping cart (repeatedly) while he's practicing his Nascar moves in a crowded isle all the while his brainless mother has her nose stuck in her phone texting. It's the eight year old little girl walking down North Avenue in an outfit that a hooker would feel self conscious in.
There's alot more but I think you get the picture. I may be exaggerating a bit but it's not far off for me to wonder on a daily basis where the parentals are.
I love kids. Really, I do. My mom did daycare out of our house for twenty five years so I was surrounded by other people's children every single day of my life. I know the amount of work they take and there HAS to be constant supervision.
What makes me sad/mad/crazy is that stupid selfish people are allowed to procreate. I very rarely go a day without hearing about a child being abused, mistreated, killed or abducted because someone wasn't paying attention. It just so messed up. It makes me want pull their parents aside and scream DON'T YOU KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE TO HAVE WITNESSED A MIRACLE IN YOUR CHILD'S BIRTH? DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE SOMETHING PRECIOUS AND IRREPLACEABLE? DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S NO LONGER ALL ABOUT YOU?
How is it fair that these people can have any number of kids that they want but no matter how hard I try, I will never know what it feels like to bring another life into the world.
I'm not saying that I would be "Mother of the Year," of course I would stumble through the job that is parenthood. Every parent does.
All I am really saying is that I would care enough about my kids to not allow them to stand on a busy street and shake sticks at cars.
I would care enough to know when I need to go back on birth control. Why? Because I am smart enough to know that more than a couple could be too much for me to handle by myself.
I would care enough to not let my eight year old daughter dress like a whore and walk down a busy street alone.
I would care more about my child's life than I would for my own.
Regardless, the kids are not to blame, hell, they are just being kids. If my mother wasn't so watchful of me when I was growing up, I would have loved to have been that brat running into people in the isles. Fuck yeah, (again, sorry mom) that sounds like a great time! Knowing myself the way I do, I am positive I would even have an intricate points system in place and would take great pleasure in screaming "I won, I won!"
Seriously, if you are a parent reading this, go home and hug your little miracles, make sure they know everyday that you live for them.
I am leaving you today with a quote from one of my favorite movies. This has stuck in my mind since the moment it was spoken and I believe it to be one of the truest things I have ever heard.
"Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children."
--Eric Draven (Brandon Lee, The Crow 1994)
Have a FANTABULOUS Wednesday my friends!
Yay! Ha ha!
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