Can I just say that some parents in this crazy world do things that make me scratch my head in total disbelief?

My friend's brother has 3 small children and one on the way. It's one of those situations where they can barely take care of the ones they have, and it makes me so sad for those little kids! There have been times when they've done without hot water and a kitchen stove, yet daddy has enough money for beer and cigarettes. Uuughh. Their oldest, who is 5 years old, can barely talk. I mean, he can talk a little, but you can't understand a word he says. The poor little guy just isn't five, developmentally speaking.

So, public school started over a month ago, and all of the sudden these parents decide they want to toss him into kindergarten this week. I suspect they suddenly realized that they have access to a free babysitter and decided to take advantage. Instead of mommy and daddy taking the child to his very first day of school, they dropped him off at my friend's house early one morning and had one of her school age children walk him to his kindergarten classroom! He is hardly ever apart from mommy and daddy, so the poor guy screamed and cried when his cousin dropped him off at his classroom and chased him down the hall....completely brokenhearted.

This is the same family that could EASILY qualify for government assistance programs like WIC, to provide milk, cheese, juice, peanutbutter, and cereal for their 3 (almost 4) children, but they are actually TOO LAZY TO GO TO THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT TO FILL OUT THE PAPERWORK! Their children could get free health insurance through a state program, but it's "too much red tape" for them, so they never get around to it.

I pray that these children grow up healthy and emotionally strong, despite their parents' complete ignorance and disregard for the importance of nurturing a child's mind, body, and spirit. I just don't understand.

Labels: general complaining, griping about people