This, my friends is a full on rant. So brace yourselves.
At Meadow Hall the other day, as me and my lovely, glamorous friend (she has no children ;-) ha ha) are heading towards the Oasis for lunch, we hear the most heart stopping scream.
We turn around and this woman is screaming over near the escalators. Her face is bright red, she has tear streaming down her face. Now as a parent myself, I said instantly to Sam "She's lost her child!"
The security is frantically speaking into a radio and she screams again. You can hear the gut wrenching, heart break in her voice. I was absolutely heart broken for her and I think it's safe to assume that your child going missing, is literally every parents worst nightmare.
Now, I'm not saying this is what had happened in this lady's case, and I pray to god she found her child that day, I'm also not saying I'm perfect, especially when it comes to parenting. It is impossible to keep your eyes on your children 100% of the time, and that's the truth! We've all done it, taken them shopping, turned for a split second to get something from a shelf or to answer a phone call and they're already half way down the next aisle. Your heart starts pounding, your mouth goes dry and you frantically start searching. Its a horrific feeling. So I refer to the above again, why, why, why, do I see people walking in front of their children?
Maybe I'm just over protective, maybe, just maybe I appear to have the common sense that others lack, but it is truly irresponsible. When it takes literally seconds to pick up a child and be gone.
You can probably tell this is something feel incredibly passionate about. There are women out there desperate to have a child of their own and then there are people who just don't care. They don't want them?! How can you NOT want your child?
I remember witnessing a toddler, no older than two and a half, maybe three tops, his little legs frantically trying to keep up with his parents as they stormed off down the road, with a can of beer in hand, arguing between themselves, only occasionally turning around to shout at him to keep up. They must have been about 20 feet in front of him. And do you know what I wanted to do, I wanted to pick him and take him home. He was tiny! It broke my heart.
Then when their child goes missing, it's all "feel sorry for us we're heartbroken!", now I'm sorry, but if you could have taken preventative measures to stop that from happening in the first place, you deserve to feel like that.. My sympathy is with that child, NOT with those parents.
I'm the sort of person that if I won the lottery, I'd buy a massive house and fill it with children nobody wanted, and spend the rest of my live making them feel like they matter. Effectively, changing their lives for the better.
I cannot physically understand the heartache involved in losing a child and I pray every day that my children have the best and live their lives to the fullest as they grow up.
I generally work under these rule -
In the house - If they hurt themselves, they won't do it again. My home is probably as child friendly as it could be. My front door is always locked and the keys hung up out of reach and in order for them to even try to escape from the back garden, they have to get through a good couple of sturdy gates and the neighbours gardens, and they never play out front. That's my brown paper mentality.
Out of the house - I have hawk eyes and bat ears. If my children are not holding my hands, they are always in front of me, so I can see them. I've had the odd mini heart attack at the park or play area when I lose sight of them for a split second. Yes my bubble wrap mentality may cause tantrums when I won't let them play on a 8ft concrete skate ramp or give them a stern telling off or hurt their arm grabbing them as they try and run across the road without me, but you know what, I don't care.
I would much rather have them scream at me and hate me for a good hour or two and see them grow up!
HELL! Hate me for an entire week, but if it means I get to see them grow into sensible, responsible adults, then I'll have done my job properly as a parent and I'll be incredibly proud of myself.
RANT OVER.
It's a pretty touchy subject this, so if you'd like to leave your comments and opinions, I'd love to hear them.
If you'd like to email me, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
A x