Parental Guidance

During my junior year of high school, several of my classmates had been picked up for underage drinking following the bust of party. Instead of their parents punishing the students, most of their parents called the state police barracks to complain. Their argument was that kids like to have fun and the state police were preventing their kids from having fun.

At the time, I had figured that it was an anomaly. Parents with attitudes like these couldn’t possibly be widespread, could they? I was very wrong. As the years went by I began hearing stories about parents drinking with their underage children.

A few years ago parents were irate because a local school district asked a local K-9 unit to stand outside the school doors to prevent any illegal drugs from being brought into the building during a school dance. The parents were upset because their children might have their weed taken away from them.

A few days ago I was told a story that came from a local elementary school, in which a third-grade student was caught with a hit-list. The hit-list was discovered by a faculty member and turned over to the administration, whereby the student was given a punishment. What made this incident shock me more was that the student’s mother is a teacher in that very building, and instead of being upset or angry that her daughter created a list of people who should be shot, the mother was outraged that her daughter was punished for it. Her view was that “everybody does it” and “it’s only a hit-list.” To add insult to injury, the mother bought the daughter new shoes to “soothe” the student’s pain of having to be told that she did something wrong.

Yesterday I had my own experience with parental irresponsibility. I received a phone call bright and early from a mother who wanted me to know that she’s informed her daughter that the daughter does not have to obey any library rules if she doesn’t want to do so. She explained that all rules of the library will be voluntary for her daughter, because she’s a taxpayer, and as a taxpayer her daughter has the right to do anything that she wants to do. From due-dates to overdue fines to anything library-related, the rules are optional for her daughter because Mommy says so.

From what I’ve been told my an administrator, I don’t have anything to fear because my rules are ones that have been school board-approved. That doesn’t mean that I won’t have to prepare a report for the board to offer my side of the story, which could be anything from a few paragraphs to a few pages.

What has me more worried is knowing that this isn’t an isolated incident. I’m seeing and hearing more and more stories of parents telling their children that they don’t have to follow any rules. They’re telling them to stand up to all forms of authority. They’re telling them that it’s okay to do whatever they want to do.

Is this parenting in 2009?

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