Do you remember the children's game of "hot potato." Everybody stands in a circle and passes a beanbag around pretending it is a very hot potato. When the music stops, the person holding the beanbag is out.
This recent news article, Grandma drops baby off at wrong address, reminded me of that game. The mother handed off her baby to the grandmother (so fast that the grandmother only had a wrong address), who then handed off the baby to a total stranger (not stopping even to exchange a few words). The grandmother thought she was dropping the child at day care.
"Police received a call from a woman who said another woman she didn't know had driven up to her home, handed her a baby boy and a diaper bag and left."
I'm wondering just how fast the grandmother handed off the baby that she didn't realize her mistake. This reminds me of the tragic stories of babies who died because their mother's forget to drop them off at daycare and mistakenly left them in the car all day.
The baby's family didn't realize their mistake until seeing the baby's picture on the news hours later. The poor little boy spent the day in foster care. (What a bonus. They get free daycare for a day.)
I don't think this family is so unusual. They epitomize the modern parenting attitude: I don't care who is watching my kid as long as it is NOT me.
With the push to universal preschool, I think we will see more stories like this. Busy pseudo-parents will be even less attached to their children than before. It is easy to have something slip your mind if you don't think about it much anyway.
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Technorati tags: parenting, daycare, preschool, child neglect
4 comments:
I am always amazed when I hear stories of people forgetting their children. I feel bad for the kids.
This is so sad. I remember having the same feeling once when babysitting an acquaintance's child ... the mom dropped the child and ran so quickly (and the child adjusted to me so quickly) that I wanted to cry.
Okay... I'm a former foster child and current child advocate.
And I must admit that I'm a little confused. Are you suggesting that the child in that story should be homeschooled?
If the parents are that irresponsible, would the child get a quality education?
If you are a qualified teacher (if your spelling, grammer and mathematical skills are good), then I fully support your right to homeschool.
Your right to homeschool should be protected. It should be respected. If I didn't have to work a full-time job to pay back my student loans, and if I were at all good at math, I think that I would love to homeschool my stepdaughters (of course their mother might not agree!)
But... here's the thing. Some parents are neglectful. Some parents are illiterate or poorly educated. Some family members out there are downright abusive.
For those people, the public school system exists to help their children achieve in this world.
-Ideally, if Joey's parents can't read, Joey can learn from his public school teacher.
-Also, if Joey comes to school with bruises every day, or is left sitting in the parking lot every day after school, a staff member might intervene and call Children's Services.
All I'm saying is: You are good parents. You're committed to your children's education. That's good. I fully support your efforts.
But please be aware about the Joeys (and even the Lisa's) out in this world. Public school might really help them.
Actually, I hadn't even thought about homeschooling and this situation. I do think this story illustrates the growing trend in our society: parents who seem blind to the needs of children.
If functioning adults won't take on the responsibility of the actually care of their children, there is no hope for the less functioning families to catch a vision of a better way.
On a personal note, I'm so sorry for your lost childhood. I hope you get the experience of providing for children the home you missed. A mom who homeschools gets to savor the time with her children which so quickly slips away.
This is my "Is homeschooling right for you" list.
or at
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2005/11/is-homeschooling-right-for-you.html
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