A mid-week rant

If there is one thing that kills me.... (well ok there's way more than 1 thing that kills me, all of which I'm sure will be subjects of rants in future entries), but one of them is definately bad parenting. And I'm not talking about "grocery store tantrums" or "crying babies in restaurants". All that is completely normal and unavoidable at times. I don't mind that at all.

I think I have been writing parenting books in my head since I was about 5 and had some choice "suggestions" for my mom when she told me I had to clean the entire basement rec room every once in a while. Although, for the most part, she did a great job. The important things were taken care of, and no one was traumatized. Which is a LOT to say in modern day America, apparently.

As is natural for being on a blogging site like this, you get to catch glimpses of other people's blogs. I came across this one mom who writes comedically (yeah I guess that is a word) about the day-to-day stories of raising her kids at home. A lot of it is really funny, and she seems like a good parent. It's just that I guess her blog has a large following of stay-at-home moms, and some of these follower comments made me want to kinda barf!

The author wrote a funny post admitting a list of some not-so-idealistically-responsible things she does once in a while. They were pretty much what you'd expect, like having bought diapers with a gift card that one of her other kids had received and not used, and not going through fluoride tablets quick enough, etc. Innocent enough. But the dozens and dozens of confessions from mothers that were written in the comments? Oh. my. gosh. Makes me seriously worry for the future generations in this country.

Just because one mom admits she only vacuums once a week, doesn't mean you can feel justified in putting your kid in daycare on the days you both have of work/school, just because you don't want them around (aka, don't want to take care of your own child). Or how about pursuading your kids into paying for junk food at school so that you don't have to pack them a nice lunch, or bringing home fast food 5-6 nights a week, or cutting the knots (um knots?) out of your kids hair because it's easier than combing it once or twice a day, or throwing your kids toys in the trash instead of teaching them to clean up after themselves (or cleaning a room yourself), or telling your kid they can't have any Doritos, wait until they go to bed, and then eat the whole bag yourself, (all of which were confessions).

I think if my mom heard any of these she would be just as horrified. What happened to enjoying the responsibilities and blessings of being able to set values and healthy habits in the future leaders of the world? I really really don't like this country sometimes and it's ever-lowering standards and increasing laziness.

When I have kids, I cannot wait to de-tangle their hair, have days off from work and school to do crafts together, teach them how to make healthy lunches with love, and teach them how to make their beds everyday instead of insist they sleep above the covers so nobody has to do any work in the morning. Thanks for setting the bar high mom. Hopefully I will make you proud.