The Menace of Convenience

I was shopping today; yes my life now consists of mommy things, shopping, writing, and my favorite-napping. Needless to say I’m in my glory…anyway, while in the checkout line I heard a baby wailing and I cringed. I have to explain myself and the cringing.

My 2nd son turned colicky at 3 weeks old and cried all the time plus he didn’t sleep straight through the night until he was almost 2. When I hear a baby cry in a store I immediately get all knotted up inside; so I try to get out of hearing distance of the sound, but if I can’t, I leave the store. Well, in this case I was already checking out and the mother of the wailer was now pushing a double stroller-double as in twins, out the door, so I relaxed and finished my task.

While I was loading my Jeep Liberty (I feel inclined to advertise I buy American), I spotted the woman with the twins and almost dropped my bags! She was at the rear of an SUV with 2 infant seats in the hatch and she was strapping those babies in those seats! I stood there, in the parking lot, with my mouth agape, not believing my eyes. How could she see them while driving? What if they choked on something? What if she got rear-ended? Then it dawned on me-if she couldn’t see them, she probably couldn’t HEAR them either. Not to mention it was a lot easier loading them in and out of the hatch than it was the back seat.

Now, I can totally relate to a whiny kid. Been there, done that, still sane-I think. However, there is no way I’d ever do anything UNSAFE for convenience. Anyone that knows me knows that my vehicle doesn’t move until all passengers are in their own seat, strapped in their own belt and no one under the age of 13 sits in the front. Rules are there for a reason and I do my best to follow them. Some family members think I’m a spaz. Well, at least I make my position known and stand by it-- no flip-flopping.

Being a safety spaz and seeing a woman strapping her babies in the hatch of an SUV made my head spin. How she secured those seats I’ve no idea; but at least her stroller was safe and sound in the back seat! I don’t know if this woman did this out of stupidity or convenience. Doesn’t matter much, those babies were NOT safe.

People have to get licenses to cut and dye hair and to drive and sell automobiles; but any moron can reproduce and raise a child. What the answer is I’m not sure. Too bad people don’t have to take a test before having children. Can you imagine how many would fail? As I’ve come to discern-convenience is more important than safety and common sense isn’t common.

Accessorizing America

I need help, major insight, a life lesson or a brain transplant. I don’t understand, comprehend or even slightly grasp this trend of accessorizing the word American i.e. African-American, Asian-American, Latino-American, etc. I was under the impression that people traveled to America because it was the land of opportunity; a great country where one could start a better life.

I realize people want to hold onto their heritage and traditions but where is the pride in being an American? Becoming a citizen of the greatest country in the world is your badge of honor, so why wouldn’t you want to scream to the world I’m an American! I don’t understand down playing it by placing some other country before it. If your birth country was so great why did you come to the United States? Go back! If your language is more fluent and efficient than English then go back to your native country and speak your native language until your throat hurts because here in America we speak English. This press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish is for the birds. If it were up to me the recording would say: press 1 for English all others hang up.

But seriously now, if it were truly up to me there would be no recording only English speaking people on the other end of the telephone. I’m not concerned with offending anyone, either. Actually, I’m offended that my country has been hijacked by all these anti-Americans that want to change our national language, the family nucleus, and reconstruct, if not completely annihilate, our constitution.

It starts small with items like accessorizing America and making it a bi-lingual nation then builds to larger items like taking away our right to bear arms or limit our freedom of speech. All it’ll take is precedence, a greedy lawyer and a liberal judge. Sound far fetched? Well, even the illegals have rights and are accessorized. We can’t call them illegal aliens, that’s offensive ya know! They are Undocumented Americans. As I said, I need a major lesson because the only accessorizing we Americans should be concerned with is matching belts to boots.

Childhood Desecration

Kids need child control not birth control!

A middle school in Maine is issuing birth control pills to girls as young as eleven without parental consent. This is totally acceptable to an unbelievable amount of people. According to their way of thinking kids are going to have sex so they might as well be protected against pregnancy. I heard one woman say girls as young as nine should get the pill, but eight was too young because they weren’t menstruating yet. I actually gagged when she admitted she’d allow her daughter to have sex that young.

A man said he’d personally hand his twelve year old daughter the pill if she said, “Daddy, me and Johnny want to have sex and you can’t stop us.” Just because a kid wants something doesn’t mean we, the parents, supply it. If my fourteen year old says he wants to drive-I’m not going to give him the car keys.

I’m the parent and it’s my obligation to ensure my child’s emotional, psychological, and physical well-being. An eleven, twelve or even fifteen year old kid isn’t emotionally or psychologically prepared for sex. In my opinion handing children birth control is promoting prostitution. This is beyond ridiculous…it’s corrupt. If we don’t stop this insanity the schools will be doing sex demonstration classes next, using volunteers from the classroom. And I don’t want to hear anymore of the so-called arguments-They’re going to do it anyway or They’ll go to the mall then leave and get a hotel room…blah, blah. The rationale holds no merit as far as I’m concerned.

It’s my job to keep tabs on my child twenty-four-seven. It’s called parenting. If more parents took their job seriously we wouldn’t be in this mess and kids wouldn’t be running the homes or running amuck, and the schools wouldn’t be buddying up with our children. It’s time we parents took our children back and taught them morals and sex education at home and demanded the school perform its actual duty--teaching the three R’s-Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

Sticks and Stones

As a kid I can remember being bullied. It made me feel bad and there were times when I had to hold back tears least the bullies see and call me a crybaby. However, I endured, persevered…strengthened even. This was the era of Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me and Takes one to know one and who from my generation could forget I’m rubber you’re glue; what bounces off me sticks to you?

Oh, those phrases, my saving grace at times. I used them like a security blanket and they helped me feel a little better. I flung those sayings at the bullies like balls from a canon to give myself a sense of power, no matter how false or fleeting it may have been. I used those snappy little clichés to try and prove I wasn’t affected by the cruel, harsh words hurled my way, but inside I was angry, embarrassed, dejected and humiliated.

In spite of the cruelness of childhood and the callousness of some children, I prevailed and I believe I grew stronger each and every time someone picked on me. As an adult I don’t get offended at remarks directed at or about me or heard through the numerous media avenues. I walk tall and proud among my peers. My posture is flawless today, having perfected it years ago as a defense mechanism. I don't have to be reminded to hold my head high, my chin up and my shoulders back-- it's quite automatic. When I walk into a room people turn and take notice because my presence demands attention. I'm not stuck up nor do I think I'm better than anyone else. I just know my own self-worth and it's not determined by what people say. It’s not assessed by the color of my skin, my nationality or religion, where I shop, the clothing labels I wear, the square footage of my home, the transportation I use or the balance in my checkbook. One’s sense of worth is determined by one’s inner strength and character. And mine was built years ago when I chose not to let someone’s words define who and what I am.

The Female Debacle

I’ve noticed over the years that women, like me, have progressed, but not all evolved in a positive manner. Many believe that getting pregnant before or without marriage and a daddy is totally acceptable. There are numerous web-sites, chat rooms and blog spots exclusively for single unwed mothers. They give and seek support from one another for such issues as child support from dead beat dads, what to do about their ex’s new girlfriend, how to meet a new stud, and where to find a baby sitter so they can go out with said stud.

These women complain and condemn the fathers of their children; ranting on and on about how much they hate him, then in their next breath state how much they love their child. THAT really confuses me. I love the baby we created TOGETHER, but I hate YOU. How can you hate him but love something that is half of him? The mental attitudes of these women dumbfound me. It’s as if they’d rather have men only for pleasure and bank accounts. They might as well come right out and say it. I only want a man for sex and money. That way they can at least claim SOME dignity by being honest.

But they don’t have to face the truth. Our culture has bent the rules so much that it’s socially acceptable to be a single mother raising a few kids all from different fathers; children being raised by grandparents; and children being raised by two sets of step-parents with step and half siblings. We can’t call it “Dad and Me Day” at school anymore. New Politically Correct terms are needed to include many different people like grandfather, uncle or even Mom’s new friend, Bob.

Moms bring many new "friends" in and out of the child’s life which is confusing and emotionally damaging to children. The excuse, and I use that term lightly, these women have for going through boyfriend after boyfriend is the fear of being alone. Can you even believe that one! They have a beautiful child that loves her beyond anything in the world; his primary goal is to please and make her smile; his entire universe revolves around his mommy. And she has the audacity to fear loneliness! More like she’s afraid she’ll SLEEP alone.

Women who are more concerned with their carnal desires than they are for their child’s emotional, physical and psychological well-being make me sick to my stomach. These pathetic, selfish, weak-minded women are a disgrace to the female race and I’m ashamed to be of the same gender. Thankfully there are women, like me, and others in my family and circle of friends, who consider marriage and motherhood sacred. We have quality, integrity and character and hopefully one day we will out-number those females who devalue children, and the family unit will be reinstated and esteemed once again.