Keep the Children Within Touching Range
Posted by zoned out on March 09 2010 15:19:44
I am not a mother, but have enough sense to know that you do not let your child walk behind you. I see this a lot, where a parent will be strolling up to the entrance doors of K-Mart, Taco Bell, Penny’s, church or what have you, and let their Jimmy or Susie lag behind.
Truth be told, there are a lot of kidnappers, child molesters and pedophiles in this world and that’s all the ammunition they need to snatch a child, while the parents are yards away looking in the opposite direction. No matter how much a child twists and turns to try and get away from their parents, it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure the child’s safety.
Mothers and fathers should have the stay-where-I-can-see-you mentality, whenever they’re out and about with their children. It is natural for a child to wander off and to want to go exploring in public. Children are not stupid and will immediately take advantage of autonomy if they see that there are no rules being enforced. They’ll think, Mom doesn’t care or Dad won’t care that I’m over here, especially when the parents are in lazy parenting mode.
I am not a mother, but I can imagine how difficult it must be to raise a child or children, whether you’re single or married. Through observation, I see that parenting can become tiresome some days, more so than others. I see what mothers and fathers mean when they say that their children can be a handful.
As children grow, parents are going to have to teach them the importance of safety and security with a commanding voice, until the children are officially grown (which means when they’re out the house). Until then, parents are obligated to know – not to determine – where their children are at all times.
If I had to use a metaphor, I would say, that a parent is like a chief, a commander, a pilot and a leader and the children, the trainees and followers. If the child is drifting off somewhere, it is the parent’s responsibility to retrieve them, before that child gets lost. It is not, God forbid, the responsibility of the individual with corrupt intentions, who is classified as the suspect, if the child was found alone. If the unthinkable were to happen, then the parent would be partially at fault for turning their back on their child too long. It is immoral to think that a child is okay a few feet away in the same department of a store or same space within a department. A split second is not long and that’s all it takes for a child to become lost or missing.
I am not a mother and neither am I a pessimist, but a realist. I see things as they are. I do not think the obvious should be ignored or tiptoed around. If bad parenting exists, it should be addressed publicly and the motive for its public address should be as a means to resolve the issue so that it doesn’t become commonplace, if it isn’t already.