It's A Job

     There is one job on the face of the planet that is the most rewarding and the hardest.  This job has no set hours and is sometimes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  This job has absolutely no monetary compensation, it is completely pro bono.
This job is parenting.

     There are countless people, couples, whose longing for a child has been met with emptiness.  Then there are countless people, couples, who should have never had any children at all.

     I do not think there is anyone, who is a parent, who has not experienced frustration in raising a child.  Most parents know, or understand, that when feelings of being overwhelmed or feelings of anger emerge, it's a good time to walk away, to cool down and regain some composure.  I remember, on more than one occasion, having to go sit outside and leave a screaming child in her crib.  I'm pretty sure I cried too.

     Having a child is not like having a pet.  They can not be put on a chain in the yard.  They can not be left unattended for hours on end. They need to be loved and nurtured.  They need your attention, your guidance, your council.  They do not need to see that your cell phone, or other electronic gadget, is more important than they are.

     Child abuse is sometimes a very fine line.  Constantly yelling at and belittling a child may not fall under physical abuse, but it is certainly mental abuse.  Years of mental abuse can easily lead to physical abuse later on.  When we witness this abuse, do we speak out or turn a blind eye?  Do we pick up the phone and make the call?  The system for rescuing abused and abandoned children is broken and over burdened, do we throw one more onto the pile?

     Today, preventing an unwanted pregnancy is as easy as plopping a box of condoms or a tube of spermicide right between the box of macaroni and cheese and a bottle of dish soap.  Really, the clerk is not going to pick these items up, wave them in the air and say "Woohoo!  Looky here!".  Most of these things work 99.9% of the time and that small decimal of failure is no where close to the amount of unwanted pregnancies that occur by using nothing.

     Rewarding people monetarily for having children they do not want or cannot take care of, isn't working.  It breeds an entitlement mentality.  Someday the money tree is going to run out of leaves and then where does that leave all the little children?

     There are far worse things than giving a child up for adoption.  Making that decision, when the reality of not being able to care and provide for a child, should be awarded a medal of bravery.  If the decision is made to keep the child, then the decision to get up off your butt and be a parent needs to be made too.