The Six "Be's"- Gordon B. Hinckley

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Just a vent...

Ok. This isn't a question post, just a venting one. So, I walked Lily down to the park by our house last night after supper. There was a group of about 10 boys playing basketball there next to the playscape. Not a problem. Then I realize there is a little boy who was around 3 to 3.5 yrs old playing on the playscape. I look around and notice that there are no parent(s) watching this little boy. He proceeds to climb up onto the very top of the playscape onto the striped plastic awning. Obviously this is not where he should be climbing! I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't just stand there and watch him fall off! So, I tell him that he should climb down because it's dangerous up there and he could fall. He just stares at me. Finally, one of the older boys playing basketball (probably around 16 yrs old or so) tells him he should get down. I think he must have been his older brother. He never came over to make sure he climbed down, he just went right back to playing ball. Eventually the boy climbed down. A few minutes later I notice that there is a plastic cup on the wooden table under the playscape that has what appears to be old orange juice in it. Well, the little boy picks it up and ducks under the table. I look under there and he is about to drink it! I tell him that he shouldn't drink it and to go pour it out on the grass. Thankfully, he complied. Then he walks up to me and says "Halloween is a scary movie. I was watching it. The man kills people like this." He made a cutting motion across his throat! I didn't know what to say! Before we left to go home, he climbed up one more time on top of the awning. I'm assuming that the parents instructed the older brother to watch the little brother, but I sure wish there was some way I could let them know that he is not being supervised at all! He probably watched Halloween when his parents weren't around too. At least I would hope so. No wonder we have so many messed up teenagers and adults. If that poor kids survives his childhood, his brain is going to be totally warped from watching who knows what! Sorry, I just had to vent about this. I wanted to have a fun time with Lily at the park and instead I end up holding my breath the whole time and wondering if this little boy is going to fall to his death from the top of the playscape or get seriously ill from drinking who knows what out of some random cup!

2 comments:

Holli said...

Sadly there are far too many parents like that. At our local library, parents will drop off their kids and expect the library workers to supervise them. I wish some parents had a clue.

Alisa said...

That is crazy! When I think I am being too hard on my kids, I have to remind myself it is because I love them. Letting them go to the park by themselves (might as well be...) is absurd, not a cool privilege.