Why are many of us so shocked and indignant when strangers whom we usually grossly underpay to take on our parental responsibilities turn out not to have the best interests of our children at heart? Can we really expect others to love, nurture and cherish our flesh and blood as we presumedly should?
Though it is an extreme case, and I certainly don’t condone or excuse what Louise Woodward was accused of doing to Matthew Eappen, it boggles my mind to think of the millions of parents who hurry off to work each day, leaving their children (supposedly their most precious possessions) in the care of someone they barely know.
There are, no doubt, instances in which both parents must work to provide the bare necessities, but far too many do so solely for luxuries that they somehow deem more important than the proper upbringing of their children.
Kids need Mom or Dad home with them most of the day to face the world squarely and grow up properly. How is it that, on the whole, sparsely educated parents of the past instinctively understood this, but most highly educated parents of today’s supposedly sophisticated society can’t seem to fathom it?
Is it because this me-first generation has entirely different priorities? Is raising one’s kids correctly near the bottom rung of this ladder?
