For the Parents

I’m going to spy in my children for their own benefit. In a previous article I spoke of the short comings of some parents and the way they let their children run rampant without proper supervision. Due to the nature of the article many believed that this was a problem isolated to lower income families located in areas we would refer to as the ghetto. I’m here today to point out that incompetent parents reside in any and every socio-economic spheres. Having your child in the house and not knowing what they are doing in the house is equally as bad as not knowing where your children are.

As some of you would know I spent 4 years coaching athletics. In this short time I formed some relationships with some of these athletes and some of the things they have told me leave me in shock and awe. This week one of them revealed to me that she was tired as she headed off to her part time job. The reason for her tiredness was that her boyfriend spent the night with her. We can only assume what activities went on that kept her awake all night. I enquired as to how much things had changed with her mother that her boyfriend was now sleeping over. She let me know that her mother didn’t have any idea that he stayed over. Her mother knew he had visited and assumed he went home after she went to bed. In my world this gentleman would have had to have made his way home before I went to bed. Similarly how can you leave for work the next day without speaking to your child?

This is just one example of negligent parenting in the upper caste. Children these days have rooms equipped with televisions, computers/laptops, iPods and every other electronic convenience available. Whilst they are happily watching television and feeling safe their children are on numerous pornography sites; they’re listening to vulgar lyrics and cursing their new found friends from around the world for bad playing in Call of Duty. The children have recreational drugs stored in their sock drawer right next to the condoms and birth control pills. The parents are unaware of all of these things because a child’s room is their sanctuary. My children will hate me because as long as your room is in my house it falls under my jurisdiction.

I believe that you must trust your children and you must allow them to grow but we all have been children and we all know that we will push the limit as far as we believe we can go before getting caught. Parents are today more concern with being their children’s friend than sometimes taking the necessary villainous route needed to instill discipline. Some of you will be saying that if you raise your child correctly then it won’t do anything that requires you to spy on them. To you I want to ask how many good parents do you know have had their hearts broken due to a child doing something out of curiosity or to fit in with the peers at school? As hard as you work as a parent sometimes outside influences will seek to undermine and undo what you’ve done.

Would you rather have your child be upset with you for a day and safe from unwanted pregnancies, STD, drug abuse and people who would prey on them or be your friend and have all these things be possible? Not saying that your child may not still engage in these things away from your homes but should you leave them unattended at home to further develop and encourage any deviant behavior?