Thursday, August 05, 2010

Hold On To 'Em!

People, for heaven's sake, hold your child's hand.

I cannot believe how many people do not watch their children. Duh! It's a big scary world out there with oodles of pervs and losers.

And I'm not just saying that because we have a registered sex offender in the family.

Course that's another story and he's not in to little kids, he just made a bad decision regarding a young (young!) lady.

Anywho, I bring all this up because every time I see the news, some kiddo has gone a missin'. It makes me sad and it makes me angry. Why, just yesterday at the theater I saw a young mother with three children wander into the the theater, leaving her three-year-old daughter at the video games. I heard her call out, "Megan, come on...." as she turned the corner.

"Megan" kept fiddling around with the games, oblivious to the fact that her parental unit had left her. I kid you not, when I say I watched this tiny, curly haired girl for a full five minutes before momma decided to come get her. I wanted to smack momma down.

Smack! Her! Down!

Beloved and I were...over zealous in our parent duties. We knew exactly where those two little buggers were every moment of every day. We held their hands in the parking lot. We went to the park with them. We monitored all of their online activities (of which there were few). No computers or televisions in the bedroom. They were given cell phones on their seventeenth birthday. We had very strict rules about social media, which explains why I have several young men who are friends with me on Facebook because they wanted to be friends with Girl.

We were helicopter parents before they even termed the phrase.

Boy and Girl are fine. Honest. They are not oppressed. They tie their own shoes and make their own decisions. We kicked encouraged them to get out and follow their dreams. And lock their doors. And Girl, remember, always go for the eyes...

I know, I know, I know, a parent can't be everywhere all the time. But please! Please hold those babies hands. Know where they are and who they are with. Trust no one!

Thus ends today's rant on child abduction.

I wish the law was like in the old days, where we could:

 Round up all of them bad boys
And hang 'em high in the street


3 comments:

Darrell Michaels said...

Wow! You have hit on a pet peeve of mine on this one!

The lack of parenting by some folks makes me nuts, especially when it comes to protecting their kids from all the vile and evil people in the world.

I have a co-worker that has ten kids and has exceedingly little supervision over any of them, even the toddlers. About three years ago, his wife called him and said that she couldn't find the baby in the house (she was two). He ran home while she went door to door with the neighbors searching. A couple of hours later they found her. She had been sleeping in a pile of laundry and covered herself up where she wasn't seen.

Amazing!

AK said...

Careless parents, oh I just hate em. I really hate them when am in the mall and someone announces about a missing kid. For God sake, hold their hand or better use a cuff.

No social media... WOW! Poor kids.. LOL.. Have a fun weekend

Anonymous said...

You know that is one thing we always did . . hold their hands everywhere . .