It Takes a Parent
I was just watching a video made by a dad that talks about, how in today's culture, by the age of ten, a parent is no longer the most important person in a child's life. He blames society and peer pressure and blah, blah, blah. I, personally, don't. I, personally, think the problem is the "it takes a village" mentality. Do you know how many people I know who, by the time their kids are ten, do nothing with their children? They do things with other people's children, friends' children, whatever; because "it takes a village." It is so sad to me. They are showing their children they really do not want to spend time with them. They all have separate lives. They depend upon the village to raise their children instead of showing their children how important they truly are.
Everyday on Facebook, I see parents post memes about how thankful they are school is about to start. They are ready to ship their kids off for eight hours a day, five days a week, to total strangers they really know nothing about other than that these individuals work at the neighborhood school. There is another popular video in which a mother is walking through a store's school supply section proclaiming she will buy whatever a teacher needs because that teacher teaches her children (i.e., that teacher gets the kids out of her hair for eight hours a day). People think such things are funny. I think they're disgusting.
Seriously, how would parents like it if their spouses, their friends, their co-workers would say, "I can't wait to be away from that (insert parent's name here) for eight hours a day. I would buy anything for the person who takes that (insert parent here) off of my hands!... I am going to do things with other people, but I am going to leave (insert parent's name here) out. (Insert parent's name here) is not interested anyway. I prefer people of a different age, anyway. (Insert parent's name here) has their own life." It wouldn't feel too good, would it? It would feel kind of exclusionary, wouldn't it? That's what parents do to their own children, and then laugh about it and justify it with an "it takes a village" mindset.
You know, yesterday evening, my family and I went to our local water park. My husband has been at work the past couple of times my sons and I have gone. My thirteen-year old son was so excited my husband was going. For the past few weeks, he has reminded his father when we all go together, the two of them were going to go down the big, green water slide together. Yesterday evening, they finally got to do it. When they came down the slide, my husband tipped backward and slid under the water. Our son steadied him, wrapped his arms around his dad, and told him he was there. Imagine if my husband had missed that opportunity because, well, our son is thirteen. He has his own life, his own friends, his own village.
We must respect our children more than we respect the village. We must show our children they are more important to us than anything society throws at us. It takes a parent to raise a child.
Everyday on Facebook, I see parents post memes about how thankful they are school is about to start. They are ready to ship their kids off for eight hours a day, five days a week, to total strangers they really know nothing about other than that these individuals work at the neighborhood school. There is another popular video in which a mother is walking through a store's school supply section proclaiming she will buy whatever a teacher needs because that teacher teaches her children (i.e., that teacher gets the kids out of her hair for eight hours a day). People think such things are funny. I think they're disgusting.
Seriously, how would parents like it if their spouses, their friends, their co-workers would say, "I can't wait to be away from that (insert parent's name here) for eight hours a day. I would buy anything for the person who takes that (insert parent here) off of my hands!... I am going to do things with other people, but I am going to leave (insert parent's name here) out. (Insert parent's name here) is not interested anyway. I prefer people of a different age, anyway. (Insert parent's name here) has their own life." It wouldn't feel too good, would it? It would feel kind of exclusionary, wouldn't it? That's what parents do to their own children, and then laugh about it and justify it with an "it takes a village" mindset.
You know, yesterday evening, my family and I went to our local water park. My husband has been at work the past couple of times my sons and I have gone. My thirteen-year old son was so excited my husband was going. For the past few weeks, he has reminded his father when we all go together, the two of them were going to go down the big, green water slide together. Yesterday evening, they finally got to do it. When they came down the slide, my husband tipped backward and slid under the water. Our son steadied him, wrapped his arms around his dad, and told him he was there. Imagine if my husband had missed that opportunity because, well, our son is thirteen. He has his own life, his own friends, his own village.
We must respect our children more than we respect the village. We must show our children they are more important to us than anything society throws at us. It takes a parent to raise a child.
👍
ReplyDelete