I Have Kids?

Not much television again tonight, had to cut the grass.  We've had a bunch of rain and it has been wet enough that I wasn't able to cut it in over a week!  But while watching the local news and eating dinner I had a reminder of something that bugs me about a lot of parents.


So while we were eating a couple of the neighborhood kids came to see if my kids could go to their house.  We are in a very rural area so there aren't many kids.  And these kids live around the bend.  By coming over here there is no way their parents can see them.  Don't get me wrong, I know that when I was a kid I was allowed to roam pretty much free as long as they knew the general plan.  But things are a lot different now.  When I was their age (pre-teen) kidnapping wasn't nearly as prominent as it is now.  That certainly isn't to say that it didn't happen, it was just a very rare thing back then.  But even at that I wasn't wandering all over the place when I was this age.  I just find it amazing, and in this case annoying, that parents can't be bothered to watch their kids.  You took the time to have kids, take the time to raise them right and protect them!

These particular parents have 3 children, one in high school, one early teenager with mental issues, and one in elementary school.  Because the middle child is mentally younger then the youngest they force him on her all the time.  So this poor little girl never gets a chance to have fun without her older challenged brother because the parents can't be bothered.  But let's top that off with the fact that whenever the parents want the kids home they send the oldest to find them.  He has stopped at our house several times with no idea where the two of them are.  And by his tone and body language, he isn't happy about it either.

I don't think I'm asking too much.  I just want people to take responsibility for their actions.  In this case, it is the act of having children.