I have witnessed parents giving their young children kool-aide and soda in a bottle I have heard of children being left home alone as young as two. And, I am constantly hearing reports of parental neglect and poor judgement in the news, here, in the Naples area and I wonder, "Did these parents ever have any training on how to rear a child?" But then again, I think well who is actually responsible for teaching parenting skills? It's not taught in Collier schools. So that leaves it to parents and society as role models to teach children how to be parents. Unfortunately many do not have the skills themselves to pass on. So that leaves us with parents who have no skills and are not aware of how to properly raise a child causing many children to experience some form of neglect.
I was outraged when I heard that a parent had allowed their one year old child to consume wine coolers at a family party. I thought, how could someone be so ignorant allowing a toddler to ingest alcohol and then I thought, Hmmm, if it was a party, there was more than one adult present who could of intervened to guide the parent in the needed skills. It's obvious that did not happen since the parent was arrested and charged with neglect with the child being placed in foster care. But here it is 'neglect' which typically results in the parent being unaware of their responsibilities as a parent.
I also heard about a parent arriving home to find law enforcement packing up her children because she had left them alone in a urine/feces infested home to go partying with her friends. Mmmm, hello, you have children who require you to care for them. If you are going out, you need to arrange for their care. You also have to assure they live in a clean, healthy environment. Again, no parenting skills ~ kids in foster care ~ parent arrested for pure ignorance.
I have seen children who are malnourished with poor health because their parents are unaware of services to help with these essential needs. Some of the parents are too proud and forced into this category due to the economic situation in today's society, while others are just uneducated on their responsibilities as a parent. The reason is not important. It all results in neglect of the child. Parents are responsible for meeting all the basic needs of a child and when they cannot society should step in to help. But programs are being cut leaving some with no outlets for support, while others are denied funding because they do not understand how the system works.
But the question still stands, who is responsible for educating parents. It is obvious to me that we cannot leave this job up to parents or society because they are not doing a very good job. Oh yes, they will make parents who are found neglectful go to parenting classes but that is reacting to a problem that should not exist, at least not at the level I am aware of. It is the state of Florida's responsibility to make sure all parents have the knowledge to develop the skills necessary to provide exemplary care in raising children. It needs to start at the state level and work itself down into the educational system. Children need to be taught how to care for one another as well as how to be parents. We need to put the classes that once taught these important daily survival skills back into the educational curriculum. The state has focused so acutely on academics that they forgot about the social responsibility they have for educating our children to become good parents and citizens.
Education is no longer as well rounded as it was when you and I attended. Students have fewer elective choices, more graduation requirements and less time to learn basic skills that will help them survive in society. The only course that even touches on these subject is health and it may present the topic in a lesson but never allows the student to apply or totally investigate the application of the topic. Therefore making it irrelevant to the student in the long run. We need to eliminate parental ignorance and neglect by teaching these skills to ALL students in school before they become parents.
It saddens me to know that children suffer because we do not.
I was outraged when I heard that a parent had allowed their one year old child to consume wine coolers at a family party. I thought, how could someone be so ignorant allowing a toddler to ingest alcohol and then I thought, Hmmm, if it was a party, there was more than one adult present who could of intervened to guide the parent in the needed skills. It's obvious that did not happen since the parent was arrested and charged with neglect with the child being placed in foster care. But here it is 'neglect' which typically results in the parent being unaware of their responsibilities as a parent.
I also heard about a parent arriving home to find law enforcement packing up her children because she had left them alone in a urine/feces infested home to go partying with her friends. Mmmm, hello, you have children who require you to care for them. If you are going out, you need to arrange for their care. You also have to assure they live in a clean, healthy environment. Again, no parenting skills ~ kids in foster care ~ parent arrested for pure ignorance.
I have seen children who are malnourished with poor health because their parents are unaware of services to help with these essential needs. Some of the parents are too proud and forced into this category due to the economic situation in today's society, while others are just uneducated on their responsibilities as a parent. The reason is not important. It all results in neglect of the child. Parents are responsible for meeting all the basic needs of a child and when they cannot society should step in to help. But programs are being cut leaving some with no outlets for support, while others are denied funding because they do not understand how the system works.
But the question still stands, who is responsible for educating parents. It is obvious to me that we cannot leave this job up to parents or society because they are not doing a very good job. Oh yes, they will make parents who are found neglectful go to parenting classes but that is reacting to a problem that should not exist, at least not at the level I am aware of. It is the state of Florida's responsibility to make sure all parents have the knowledge to develop the skills necessary to provide exemplary care in raising children. It needs to start at the state level and work itself down into the educational system. Children need to be taught how to care for one another as well as how to be parents. We need to put the classes that once taught these important daily survival skills back into the educational curriculum. The state has focused so acutely on academics that they forgot about the social responsibility they have for educating our children to become good parents and citizens.
Education is no longer as well rounded as it was when you and I attended. Students have fewer elective choices, more graduation requirements and less time to learn basic skills that will help them survive in society. The only course that even touches on these subject is health and it may present the topic in a lesson but never allows the student to apply or totally investigate the application of the topic. Therefore making it irrelevant to the student in the long run. We need to eliminate parental ignorance and neglect by teaching these skills to ALL students in school before they become parents.
It saddens me to know that children suffer because we do not.
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