should all parents be parents? … 071408

if there is ever one pet peeve of mine this is it. parents who do not have the guts to be parents. i recently went to an appointment at the doctors office and i just watched in amazement at this mom as she allowed her baby who was crawling on the floor to just crawl wherever he wanted. she sat there and just watched. on one occasion the child crawled up to the door that led to an adjoining room which has to be pushed from the other side to be opened.

the baby who is learning to stand, had pulled himself up and was using the door to hold himself up. the mother was oblivious to this or just ignored it. one of the patients told the mother that he is in a dangerous spot because if someone opened the door not knowing the child was there, the baby could become hurt.

the mother got up and just stood to where the baby could see her and finally the baby crawled towards her.

now what would have happened if someone had opened the door with some force and that baby had gotten injured? would she sue the office for there negligence or not taking this possibility into account? would she have blamed the person who opened the door for their wreckless behavior? would she have allowed this to be a lesson learned for the child?

i must add that this mom also had a 2 or 3 y/o little girl with her as well who was also a handful as any child that age can be. also the dad was there but he had been brought into the office. she had gone in but was told she could not be in there with the children.

i have to admit that her face looked troubled and tired. maybe she had had a long night. maybe what her husband was there for was a concern to her. maybe she didn’t have enough sleep. maybe she was worried. maybe she was burnt out from taking care of these two young children. i really don’t know but those are some of the possibilities. these possibilities are what keeps me from making a clear judgment on her. i have learned that making judgment on people should be carefully done if it has to be done. most times it’s best if we leave judgment to the only one who is perfect – GOD!

with that said, should the mom be as unconcerned for her child’s safety as she was? should she be more responsible no matter what she is experiencing? do we make excuses because of a person’s experience? what if that child was home and was crawling towards a stove or some other dangerous spot? would she have allowed the child to just go ahead and do that?

these are the things that as i observe, have come to some conclusion that not all parents should be parents.

do you agree or disagree with my observation and possible conclusion? do you feel the same way?

i’ll do part 2 on parents of teens who want to be “cool” or be the teen’s friend next time. stay tuned!