Parents Blame Schools for Their Own Failures

Last night I was watching the local news and watched a report of two younger students that had been hit by cars.  Fortunately the kids were not seriously hurt.

The crux of the report centered on the fact that the school district had cut paid crossing guards because of massive budget cuts.  They’ve asked for parent volunteers, but to date have had none respond.

One parent, who was interviewed, criticized the schools for not having crossing guards because when the younger kids are let of school they just run straight across the busy street in front of the school.  She laid the blame on the school for any injuries or accidents.  This parent is typical of many parents today that believe the safety, welfare and education of their children is the responsibility of everyone else, not them.

When I went to school there were no crossing guards.  Our parents taught us at a very young age to always watch out for cars before crossing the street and I don’t remember ever hearing of any kids being hit by cars and trust me, we had several busy streets to cross between home and school.

My parents also taught us many other things that seem to be missing from modern parenting manuals.  We were taught to never play near a swimming pool without an adult around, but then again, we were all taught to swim at a very young age also.  My parents also taught us to never play with a gun and never point one at anyone.  There were always loaded guns in our house for protection and us kids were shown where they were.  We were also taught to respect guns and we never ever considered playing with them.

In today’s world, parents don’t take the responsibility to teach their kids how to be safe or how to show respect for anything or anyone.  They rely on schools to pay crossing guards to cover their failure as parents.  Lawmakers have been forced in many areas to require pools to be fenced and guns be locked away with trigger locks on them.  I’ve always wondered how that makes a home safe from intruders when you have to unlock a gun safe or cabinet and then unlock and remove a trigger lock while someone has broken into your home and started attacking you and your family.

Sometimes I feel like I want to take parents, like the mother on the news, that blames others for their own failure, and either slap them or get in their face and tell them it’s their fault and no one else’s.  They need to start being a responsible parent and spend the time to teach their kids about safety and respect.  When they see an issue such as running across a street without looking, do the right thing and teach their children how to do it safely.

If more parents actually were parents, we would have a lot more children alive today and places like schools would not have to spend money they don’t have on things like crossing guards.

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