Hide Yo Kids.

I was 22 when I started thinking of getting a vehicle. To be honest, I was starting to hate the bus – the unreliability, the aching feet, the rubbing up next to sweaty, (occasionally) pervy men.

…No.
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/lybron/5979956353/)

So I settled on a vitara. No one warned me about the extent of the driver-prices. It’s getting serious. The idea of car payments induces headaches. I no longer have qualms about asking for $20 in gas. My two year old is starting to think of the empty-tank noise as the car’s start-up song.

This is at least $7.50 in gas. We could do an island tour on this.

I drive a lot, because I’m on internship until summer, and my internship site is f.a.r. I get to work with adolescent students suspended from school for various reasons – weapons, fighting teachers, rudeness, violence, sex, you name it. Kids do some crazy things. But it’s not just them. Adults are doing some crazy things too.

I’ve been listening a lot recently. People, take care of your children man. I’ve come into contact recently with a lot of people I would not have seen or really spoken to in years. I’m not a small-talker. I’m not good at it, I don’t enjoy it, I don’t encourage it. But thankfully these conversations were deep. And eventually, they drifted into significant life events. And you know what the common factor was? “Man, my mother…”
“Da man they call my father…”
“Man, dis ting does just linger at the back of my head…”
“Up to now, I can’t stop thinking about…”

Everyone. Everyone eventually brought up some persistent life view, or lingering pain, that resulted because of some thing that happened with the adults around them in their childhood. Abusive parents, or grandparents. Parents that were sexually immoral in blatant ways. Parents who emotionally ignored their children, or cursed them, brought them down…

And I’m seeing it  with these kids that I get to talk to. Not a case goes by where I can’t observe a gaping void caused by parents’ non-parenting actions.
“Your child is being violent at school. Do you see this violence at home as well?”
“I don’t f!#@ing see nuttin at my r@$(!%% house, wuh you getting at?”

“What would you say your son’s special talent is? Everyone has talents. What would you say he’s really good at?”
“Who, he? He ain good at nuttin but runnin he mout”

And I have to sit there and watch the child’s smile falter and harden back into the classic ‘badman’ scowl. We say it’s the music they listen to, the company they keep, the TV they watch. I say sometimes…often times, it starts at home. I firmly (firmly!) believe that all parents should be mandated to attend parenting workshops before their children are brought into this world/given to them.  And if you already have children and are getting another, go to a refresher course. People have to interview for jobs all the time, and yet they can just raise children simply because they were adult enough to have sex. Pft.

I am so passionate about this topic. I am tired of seeing parents show up to parent sessions wearing “boxy drop outs” and a bad attitude.

“I hay fuh de meeting”

Tired of hearing parents tell their children “man shat tuh f*ck up in hay!” and then follow it up with “I don’t know why she acting out so!”
Stop bringing your children into family drama and adult situations. Stop encouraging your kids to curse their teachers. There’re some parents here in Barbados telling their children “don’t friends up wid nuh teachers, hear? If dem touch you, blister dem ass!”

…What? No wonder children are stabbing and sexing and stealing and cursing all over the place. People, hide yo kids. Hide yo siblings’ kids, hide yo neighborhood kids. Hide them from idiotic adults who may influence these kids’ young impressionable minds and leave lasting scars that may affect kids far into adulthood. And if you’re the idiotic adult that’s affecting the child negatively, hide them from yourself. Get some parenting information. Google that stuff. Something. Let’s start treating child rearing with the sombre attitude and respect that it deserves.