Please Love Your Children

This story begins in 1983. I have two children. A son who is the oldest, by 14 months, and a beautiful daughter. I never really new the feeling of love until they joined me in this life. I was 30 years old when the decision was made to become a father.

I still remember, vividly, when my son was born. This feeling rushed through my entire body when I first saw him and then picked him up. It was like I just wanted to crawl inside of him. I couldn't get close enough. The same feeling overwhelmed me for my little girls birth. Having a son and a daughter was perfect!

At around two years old their mother ran off and absconded with our children. I contacted the police, an attorney, the district attorney, and the national hot line for missing and exploited children in Washington DC. Three months without my children was one of the most stressful times of my life. I lived in California and with the help of the hot line I found them in Georgia. What a great organization! Needles to say I was on a plane and brought them home. They were very happy to see me. So I became mother and father, witch I was very happy to do. Determined not to be a weekend father I was granted full custody by the state of California.

If I wasn't at work my baby's were always with me. We went everywhere together. The day care/preschool on the mountain where we lived was a wonderful place. Being small and their love for children made a great experience for the kids.

As kindergarten rolled around Heather and Lawton knew their letters and numbers and more. They could name most of the major bones in the body. Of course all the little bones in the wrist, foot, face, and such was a little to much.

I invested in the Phisher Price toys for tots club. Disney Books and Dr. Suess. What is said about reading to your children is gospel. Talk and touch is so very important.

Hoffman Elementary School. A part of the Rim Of The World School District in the San Bernardino Mts. was, and likely still is, a great school. The kindergarten teacher, after meeting my child gave me a sad tale. It bothered me then and still troubles me now as it should all of us. She said " I can tell when a child is loved." She said that there are children in her classes that have never even been to the store. Wow, how can that be? 5 years old and never been to the grocery store. Despicable.

Children across the planet are suffering. Basic needs can not be met. Food, shelter, and clothing. Don't believe this only happens in the underdeveloped countries.

How can you list all the problems. Child labor, Children Solders, The Sex Trade. What can an individual do? Help pass laws, send money. Education. When adults put their needs for survival, money, and power above our next generation's needs how can we change that mind set.

I do believe it all starts with parents. loving and nurturing their precious children. The poorest of people, tribes still living off the land in the Amazon and other places offer to their children the utmost of respect.

This is just a guess but I suppose if the ability achieve an emotional connection is just not there or has been lost everyone suffers. Abuse,in any form, contributes. Physical, mental, drugs. All the great minds and money haven't been able to figure this out.

In the United States, even with all our wealth, our children are having problems. (Sometimes our troubles seen small compared to other places.) Have we spoiled them. Teenage pregnancies are the highest in the world. Never good for a child to be raising a child. Grandparents raising their grandchildren more and more. School dropout rates on the rise. Altercations escalated from fist-ta-cuffs  to guns and shootouts some time ago. Gangs, drugs and guns go hand in hand. I hear all the time how the bug city gangs are moving into middle America. Desperation in the inter cities helps move young people to drugs and crime. 

One tribulation of parenthood is that you never know what path your child will take. All of your love and attention can not guarantee your results.

I didn't spank my children. A little tap on the diaper, when they were small, was enough to upset them. They new yes and no and I always tried to explain the NO's. I really don't remember what those two were arguing about. They were still quit young, buy I grounded them from Ketchup. Oh my word. You could here the whining around the world. "We won't do it again Dad. We won't. We promise. We promise! I kept it from them for one day. Ya I broke. Of course they did it again.

By the time my son was three he could speak so well you would think it was a teenager talking hearing him from an other room. I yelled at him about something one day and them I felt bad about it. I told him sorry and said sometimes i forget your just a little boy. He jumped on that bandwagon right away. "But dad, I'm just a little boy!" I heard that response for sometime from him.

As they grew older and started becoming involved in school activities and friends good old dad wasn't as important as before. Or so I thought. They both were going some where and their friends came came to pick them up. This lady was there. Actually she was my ex mother in law. Their grandma. The kids just ran out the door. No goodbye or see ya latter. I remarked that they didn't care about dad. She told me this. "Oh they care. Their just secure and know you will be here when they get back. You have done a good job wiyh my grandchildren."

Sure made me feel good.

Thanks for your time at my Hub. I will be visiting yours.