The Children

Today I received an email from April's teacher that she didn't think April was feeling well because she had dark circles under her eyes (April has the kind of eyes that you just know when you look at her if she feels okay or not. When they get dark underneath she is typically coming down with something.) and she had said she had a sore throat. She said that she emailed me because strep was going around in the event that we needed to take her in. I replied that if she thought April was miserable in class I would come and get her to take her home to rest and told her how much I appreciated that she took a few minutes out of her day to let me know how April was doing. Her teacher replied back and in her email she stated that it's wonderful to work with parents that care so much about their children. At first the way it was worded made me feel proud and I even kind of giggled. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. She was saying that because she had obviously had children whose parents didn't care. And that honestly breaks my heart and makes me want to cry.

Every day we read stories on online or hear news reports of horrible monstrosities happening to children. Each one is more horrible than the next. Parents who beat their children, starve them, abuse them (in any way), or even kill them. WHY???? I don't understand how an innocent child can do something so terrible to warrant any of those behaviors. Withholding love is just as big of a crime as any of the others I mentioned. How can you create a child and then decide that you no longer care? How can you not hold that child in your arms when they are hurt or upset and tell them you love them? Some people should not be parents. Unfortunately it's often those very people who are reproducing like it's a sport of some kind. Instead of giving them up for adoption to a couple that could love them and provide them with a stable home they keep them to get a little more in aid from the government.

While I don't think people should be told how many children they should have I do think that the government should have the right to come in and say "enough is enough". (Yes I do realize I am opening a can of worms right now.) But lets say you have a couple who is unmarried. The woman pretty automatically gets WIC and possibly healthcare provided to her. If you have someone or a couple that is already getting assistance and they continue to create more children and continue to get handouts from the government I think that is abuse. It's abuse of the system and it's abuse to those children who are not able to provide for. I'm not talking about the people who fall onto hard times for a couple years, but people who basically make a career out of this - and you know they exist. You see them in front of you in the grocery line buying all the name brand foods with their EBT card/food stamps that even you can't afford to buy.

Something needs to change with this world. I don't know how to do it or even exactly what to do. I guess all we can do right now is pray that God helps these children to make it through whatever they are suffering and that he helps them to grow up to be better adults than their parents are.

I realize that tonight was full of ranting and I apologize. I just needed to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening/reading.