00:32 May 12 2009
Times Read: 573
This is something my last journal entry got me to thinking about…
We have all seen and heard all about the dangers of allowing kids to go onto the net without supervision. They can become a target for pedophiles and so many other atrocities.
But, what about the smaller kids, the newborns, babies, and toddlers, the ones that can’t be on the net just yet but Mom and Dad are? I mean what happens to a kid when the parents are spending so much time on the net that they are becoming neglectful about changing diapers, feeding, nurturing, doing those little things that make children thrive?
When my kids were little, I had set times of the day I did things, like reading to them, playtime, bath time etc. I also cleaned house, did laundry prepared meals etc. Now I see little kids climbing up onto furniture to look outside, I see the same toddlers in the same clothing day after day. Grade school children going to school in the same thing they wore the day before, dirty, uncombed hair, no lunches and their tiny bodies looking like they have missed more meals than they are given…why is that?
I have a nephew who works really hard, his wife and he have 3 small children. I went to their home right after the 3rd was born, I was shocked to see their house in the shape it was in. My nephew was so embarrassed, but what more could he do? He has a house with a mortgage, 3 children to feed, a wife and two car payments, and all the usual bills, he works 16 to 18 hours a day. She doesn’t work, she’s a stay at home mom, there was food stuck to walls and the floor, cat litter boxes overflowing, jelly coated kitchen floor that you stuck to when you walked on it. Toys strewn all over the house, curtains drawn so the house was dark and depressing; and then I watched as my little great niece all of 7 years old at the time go in and fix sandwiches for herself and her little brother, she poured milk into cups and the newly made mom of 3, where was she? Playing Worlds of warcraft on the computer. My nephew was changing the baby and trying to do the laundry that was piled 4 feet high. As for the game, he said his wife went thru all the levels and he bought her the expansion pack which should have taken her over a year to complete and she was done with it within 6 weeks. Now THAT is a serious addiction!
Before the 3rd baby came into the picture it wasn’t just the game, it was also going out to party and dance every weekend, if my nephew said no, according to him life became a nightmare for him and the kids.
Since then her interests have shifted on to something else, she has discovered a place a lot like VR, a social network. She spends as much time on it as she ever did W.O.W, the children have gotten older, and have taught themselves to fend for themselves when their Daddy isn’t there. They still attend school wearing the same clothes, the house still is a mess. They have had lice several times but instead of taking the time to properly treat it, she shaves their heads and still doesn’t clean to ensure the lice are irradiated. Their grades continue to slip and that baby, she is now 4 years old and still in diapers and sucking a bottle with coke in it instead of milk, unless their Daddy or grandparents are around.
So, I ask again; When does a toddler rank higher than partying and being on the net for hours at a time?
COMMENTS
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cadrewolf
18:18 May 14 2009
Security was not too tight, ?