esrosedotblog

Being a parent is harder than ever.

Not because the world is a worsening place but because there are so many people looking over your shoulder. Busybodies who can't resist the impulse to complain or warn or call the cops or whatever.

I have noticed more and more news items about this.

A woman arrested for leaving her kids alone in a car while she went into a store. A classic. Some asshole saw this and picked his or her phone up and called the cops. The cops cannot back down. A complaint was made, there is a law, the evidence is clear. The kids are in the car alone.

The parent is arrested, the kids taken to a "home", not their own, and all kinds of shit rains down on the lives of what used to be normal people doing what used to be normal things.

I don't like to talk about the good old days. They were just fine but not better. Different maybe. But one thing is clear. I was alone for vast expanses of time as both parents worked and during WWII while my Dad was gone I had no one but myself and other kids in similar situations to hang out with.

We ran the fields and for the most part had a great time with each other without adult supervision of any kind.

Of course, there were more women, a fact, at home and so it is possible that they were watching out the window but I doubt it. They had other things to do and we were all living in the norm.

I am not the only person to notice the creeping encroachment on the rights of parents, and their kids, actually, to live life without interference from others.

The Parent Trap

This is Russ Douthat, a conservative.

When I was a parent we lived in a small village but it was a close neighborhood. Any threats were similar to the kind that any kid today encounters.

I think the worst worry was about child molestation and as it turned out that was based on actual events just down the street. My close friend next door was "done" by the guy who lived just next on the other side.

No doubt. A worry. Never take candy from strangers. Useless when it is Mr. Vernoy who has been there all our lives. But the Mom reported him, he went to jail and that was that for as long as I heard anything about life on the street.

When I was a parent, as I recall, my kids just sort of ran around. We knew they were around because part of the time they were in our house or yard or in the neighbors' or something. Usually in a gang. Safety in numbers.

Parental hovering is such a bad thing for kids. It creates fear. Fear of fear itself.

And there is the whole thing about anonymous power. Any creep with a power drive can use his leverage to meddle with other lives and our laws now support that. Child endangerment.

And this thing about letting the kids be in the car. I was in the store a few weeks ago and an announcement was made about a dog shut in the car. Keerist. Some person saw it and came in and told the manager and made out that the manager should announce this and please come to take care of the dog so the bastard that complained would be placated. I know this because I asked my friend Jim who manages the mornings there. He verified. The complainer insisted. He said there was a crack in the car windows and it was not hot.

So here we go. Meddlers. Tattletales. All on a bit of a power trip at the expense of innocent bystanders around them. The "professional" hall monitor from school days. The finger pointers who point to divert attention from themselves.

In a word, assholism, a growing plague.

Labels: culture, parents