Punish parents for carelessness

by Rachel Richmond

U-Wire

If there is one thing I cannot stand in this world, it is crazy parents. I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill, off-the-wall parents; I'm talking about the crazies. As in, the irresponsible, stupid, selfish and just plain mean parents.

We see them in the news every day getting caught for doing something dumb at the expense of a child's humility or even a child's life.

Every summer is the same old story. Some poor child is strapped to a car seat, locked in a car with the windows up in the middle of a hot summer day and dies of dehydration, heat stroke or heat exhaustion. And the parents or caretaker's excuse is always either "It was only for a few minutes," or simply, "I forgot."

Now, I have forgotten where I put my keys and I may have even forgotten to call my mother on her birthday, yes (it did happen - sorry mom). But seriously people, you have to be a special kind of stupid to "forget" a child in the back seat of a car. It doesn't matter if they were really quiet or sleeping. You just don't forget important things like that, especially a child. It breaks my heart when I see animals locked in a hot car, let alone a child. What is more important than that little life in the back seat? Those parents should be strapped in the back seat during July in Texas to sweat it out. I'll only be gone for a few minutes honey.

We all remember last year when 8-year-old Lauren Calhoun was found in a locked closet, containing human waste, in her parents home in Hutchins. The 3-foot tall child weighed 25 pounds and couldn't even recognize the sun when drawn in a picture. Supposedly she was banished to the closet for "being bad and eating too much."

How bad or how much does a kid have to eat to be banished to a closet containing human excretion? After I read the story when it first came out, I was completely disgusted and disturbed. Thank goodness the child was adopted by a normal couple and is recovering from this traumatic experience. I think mom and dad need to be banished to a closet full of poop for about 10 years. We'll see how they like that. But, of course, I'm not running the justice system. Too bad in this case.

Of course the big news lately is Madelyne Gorman Toogood beating the life out of her 4-year-old child in the parking lot of a Kohl's Department store in Indiana. What a dumb lady. What parking lot doesn't have surveillance cameras these days? I've seen that video replay on TV almost every day. She is just thumping that poor child although she claims she never punched her.

Her excuse for this behavior seems to be, "I lost my temper." Haven't we all lost our cool at least once in our lives? But not everyone beats up a child to relieve tension.

This next and last encounter with crazy parents seems to be the most unusual to me. This lady doesn't seem mean, only a little nutty. It's Lynn Stuckey, the Illinois mom who still breast-feeds her 8-year-old child. Stuckey said breast-feeding an 8-year-old is normal and Americans are just uncomfortable about breast-feeding.

Well, I'm an American and I am fine with breast-feeding; it is a perfectly natural thing . . .unless the child is old enough to ask for it. That's when I have a problem with it. The child is eight! I will be more than happy to send her a few bucks every month to buy a gallon of milk at the store. She could even send the child; he'll be driving soon enough. She also said she sees nothing inappropriate about breast-feeding unless the child is "maybe into their teens." What's going to happen when he goes on his first date? "Mom, put your shirt back on, my date's at the door." That can't be good for his action with the ladies. Sick, sick, sick.

I think there should be a series of tests people must go through before they are allowed to conceive children. If they don't make the cut, then they should be sterilized. Seriously, it would cut down on child abuse and neglect, among other issues.

Some people who are simply just not fit to be parents pop out babies like it's going out of style. And there are people who would make great parents and are just physically not able to produce children. Strange how life is.

If you do plan to one day have a family of your own; please take care of your babies. Don't "forget" them in a car, lock them in a closet, beat them up or breast-feed them until they enroll in college. Children truly are innocent and precious.

The only thing you should be guilty of is loving them too much. And love isn't a bad thing.