It’s always disturbing to read about parents who don’t take their responsibilities as a parent seriously. I wanted my first blog of the year to be about something happy, but this is far more important an issue to me. This past Sunday yet another parent was negligent in her responsibilities as a mother when she allowed her 3-year-old to escape from their second floor apartment and wander off, ultimately finding his way to a busy interstate.
According to police reports, the 3-year-old Indianapolis toddler was found playing on the busy highway, wearing nothing but a diaper and t-shirt, while his mother slept in their filthy apartment. Several motorists had to swerve to avoid hitting the poor child. Fortunately, a group of motorists stopped and retrieved the child before anything tragic happened and to take care of him while authorities were summoned.
A few months ago a toddler was found wandering the street near Tyler’s school headed toward a busy highway. It’s unconscionable that these small kids are allowed to wander away while their parents remain inside totally oblivious to their whereabouts. When Tyler was that age, I made sure I locked both locks on my door and kept the keys where he couldn’t reach them, plus I kept the door alarms on. I was determined that there was no way that kid was getting away from me. Call me overly cautious, I don’t care. One thing is for sure, he never wandered outside.
Sunday’s story is even more disturbing because when the authorities arrived at the child’s apartment they found it filthy and the boy’s 2-year-old sister eating spaghetti off the floor! Oh, but it gets worse. When the authorities told the mother, and I use the term loosely, what had happened to her son, her response was simply, “Oh, he got out again.” This cavalier attitude really makes me mad. Fortunately, the children were taken from the home and hopefully they won’t be returned. Especially in light of the fact that the Child Protective Services had been summoned on Thursday after reports that the boy was outside unsupervised. I have to question why something wasn’t done at that time but at least this time the mother was arrested and charged with two counts of neglect.
I believe kids should remain with their parents if their parents are equipped to take care of them. Otherwise they should be removed and placed with someone who is capable of doing so. And in this case we can’t blame the moms age. This wasn’t some young mother, some teenage girl, this was a 33-year-old woman. Someone who you think would be more responsible. A few court-ordered parenting classes and the kids will probably be returned to the mother, that’s the reality of the situation. Let’s just hope that if the kids are returned the mother learns a lesson and does a better job of parenting in the future.
See also:
Make Sure You Know Who’s Watching Your Kids
Selling Our Kids and Using Them As Weapons