Friday, October 5, 2012

Are We Creating Lazy Parents?

I admit, I'm not the world's best mother. I do my best but I have limits and have snapped at him when he didn't deserve it. I've left him alone to watch TV so I could have "me" time. I've fed him things that weren't very healthy (macaroni and cheese is a favorite meal!).

While he hasn't started school yet, and we're still debating on what direction his schooling will take, as I drove to work the other day I thought about the state of our schools. More specifically, the state of our parents.

At church we had a request from a teacher. She asked for us to donate granola bars and other non perishable food stuff for their elementary school classrooms. The reason? The population of kids there is more transient than most and they do not have a lot of parental participation.

How sad is that? Just because you move around a lot you aren't going to participate in your child's education? And why is that? Do these parents think that it's the schools job to feed as well as educate their kids?

Schools now a days provide breakfasts, lunches, and sometimes even dinners. Why???

I can totally understand if people are super, super poor and can't afford fancy foods. But if you are that poor there is state assistance - food stamps, welfare, etc. There's really no excuse for any child to go to school without a peanut butter sandwich at a minimum. Or a cheese sandwich. Something.

Are parents who can provide simply defaulting to the schools to take over their parenting responsibilities?

I donated several bags of granola bars - because it's not the kids' faults that their parents aren't participating. But then we are passing on that message to kids - don't have personal responsibility because the government will take care of you no matter what.

And I find that sad.

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