Parenting--How Scary

See that cute little cow? She is our pride and joy. She is also the reason I spend hours at night freaking out. I know that all parents worry about their children and my mom had 8 kids, five of them in the jungle and we are all OK (knock on wood) but it seems like every day when I open CNN or other news websites there is yet another story of someone bringing harm to another child. Maybe it´s the fact that news is so pervasive, so ubiquitous that we hear about things happening in obscure parts of the world more often than our parents and their parents before them. But, it´s not just obscure parts of the world. How about right in the US or in Europe...places that claim to be civilized. There are numerous stories of people leaving their kids in garbage cans or fathers murdering their whole families or kids in Florida getting abducted and killed. Has it always been this way? I cannot bring myself to raise a finger against my daughter no matter how tired or frustrated I am yet there are people out there bringing harm to helpless children every day.

Anyone who raises a hand against a helpless, defenseless child is absolutely cowardly, weak, heartless and despicable in my eyes. Just this morning I was holding Siena in my arms and marvelling at how defenseless she is and how much she trusts 100% that her mom and dad will protect her from harm. Every time she stubs her toe or pinches her fingers in the drawers she runs to her mom for comfort. I cannot imagine how a parent can go from a defender of a child to someone who brings violence against children.

Let me tell you a story that has burned in my mind for years. I was at Wal-Mart and there was this family in front of me. This little girl, about 3 or 4 years old, was chatting away to her mom and dad like little kids tend to do. The dad told her to be quiet. She kept chatting away. So, he drew back and backhanded the little girl across her face. (I am shaking in rage just remembering the incident) . Now, I don´t mean a little slap but a full roundhouse backhand which snapped the little girl´s face around. The mom did nothing because it was a family of ethnic origin where the father was considered to be The Authority. I was SO ANGRY! Everything in me wanted to jump that miserable asshole and beat him to a pulp. However, I didn´t. To this day I wish I had done something but I just feel that violence (even if in defense of a child) only breeds more violence.

I implore all the adults out there to stop violence against children. If you must, beat up another adult...someone your own size but there is absolutely no excuse for harming a child. To the Christians who have read in the Bible so many times "spare the rod and spoil the child" I believe that when you raise a hand against a child in anger, you are no more excused than a stranger who walks up to your child and beats them up because they are angry at the world.

These are the thoughts that keep me up at night...