Parenting?

My 15-year-old and his girlfriend told their parents that they wanted to go to a party on New Years Day that one of their friends was having at his house.  The party was from 7 until 1 and both parents agreed that it was ok for them to go to this party. 

 This morning, the kids and I woke up when we woke up; having no place that we had to be this morning – it was nice to sleep in.  I woke up, made the kids and their cousin who is with us for the weekend, a big breakfast and then later we all went to the mall but first we picked up my oldest sons girlfriend. At the mall all of the kids were looking to buy clothes. My daughter and I went off on our own and I watched her decide on what toy she just had to have.  I followed her around the toy aisles for at least 30 minutes while she made her decision.  She would stop and pick up the items that she thought she might be interested in, put them back and move on to the next thing.  She finally decided on some kind of furry pets and we left. After meeting the rest of the kids and admiring what they had purchased with their Christmas gift cards and money, we all left. I took the girlfriend home.

Soon it was time for mommie taxi to get back into the car and with the oldest and pick up his son’s girlfriend and take them both to the New Years Day party for kids.  We left and upon arrival into a very nice neighborhood, I happened upon the house with 3 adults standing outside – 2 men and 1 woman.  I parked and got out of the van and walked up to greet them and to introduce the kids.  As I did, and even before I could finish, the mom said that I was the first parent to get out of the car and speak to them. I was like what, you  have got to be kidding? She said no and her husband and the neighbor echoed her statement.  I was amazed. She then added you would be surprised that there are so many kids here and the parents just dropped them off and never got out of the car. She said that I could go in and check out the house and the kids; which I did and it was just a bunch of girls dressed inappropriately and boys hanging around talking and listening to music.   There had to be about 30 kids and not one of their parents bothered to get out of the car to see where they were dropping off their children!  Now that fact alone is astonishing.  In this day and time where anything can happen to our kids and that anything does happen to our kids; it baffles the mind that adults/parents could so carelessly place their children in a potentially dangerous situation.  While I was there a group of 4 girls was being dropped off by a mom and they passed me as I walked back to the van. The mom never got out of her car and never even rolled the window down to introduce herself to the owners of the home. 

This may not seem like a big deal to a lot of parents however to me it is a very big deal.  Many of the girls that I saw in the house tonight were dressed wrong. They had on clothes too tight and too revealing for their age and again what was so amazing to me was that they had to be dropped off by a parent or an older person and NO ONE thought to tell these little girls they were dressed wrong, wrong, wrong. I continue to believe that as a society we give mucho lip service to our children.  We as a people are all talk and no action.  It is evident in what we allow on television, what gets played on air and what we buy our children to wear.  We want moral children and yet bombard them constantly with immoral behavior and label it as ok and never make a statement to our children about expectations. I wonder is there any parenting going around, like the kind I know I had.  A lot of tough love and a lot tougher on our behinds.  Take a look around and see for yourself.

 Yolande Barial
Your Words Project: Speaking on Purpose
Seeks to Enrich the Lives of Women through Spoken and Written Word.
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“Through her inspirational writings and spiritual poetry, Yolande Barial empowers women of all ages to be on purpose.”

I have always