The first day of school is around the corner and I have been more observant than usual of my surroundings, searching for insight. I went jogging this morning and I ran past a few kids smoking (something that smelled like the 70’s… or Keanu Reeves) on the jogging trail; they couldn’t be much older than my children. That afternoon, my family and I all went to the movies and there were a couple of teenage girls draped over guys definitely older than they. Surely they were not on a date. Our movie would have been awesome if the atmosphere was not so disturbing. A young girl was incessantly answering the phone and lying about her position in the mall. I wanted to grab that young girl’s phone and inform her mother about the positions that she was in. The movie ended and we headed home. That evening, I stopped at the local convenience store for a loaf of bread. Before I could enter, a suburban gangster wannabe approached me. He asked, “Yo, buy me some cigs and I’ll drop a Hamilton”. I said to him, “I know your mother, Andrew”. (He had a nametag on) I also said that I was going to call his mother. Then he called me a real bitch and some other things. I wish I really did know his mother. I was so livid that I almost forgot to buy that loaf of bread. On the way home I was reflecting on my day. There were a few questions that I could not escape from. “Who is in charge? What kind of parents could live with themselves, knowing that their children act like that? DO THEY EVEN KNOW!? Or are they under the assumption that their children are above reproach? Surely they cannot believe that. I know that they couldn’t possibly be afraid of embarrassing themselves by asking their kids those invasive questions like: “where are you going and what are you doing?”. Has being the cool parent overtaken being the responsible one? Maybe they don’t want to offend their kids. Maybe they really don’t want to know. I hope that they do. Am I to suppose that they think it’s all just OK, because their kids “really should know better”. Do parents still know that checking on their children’s plans is acceptable? Even though people have to work, they are still allowed to be in charge. Think about those kids I saw. They could be one of yours. Put your mind at ease and ask the next time, take a moment to check on your kids. You could be right everything could be “OK” but then again do you live your life based on improbabilities?
Food for the Mind,
Lilly Sway
