One of the things that scares Katie and I most about bringing up a child in this world is the last two words of that phrase... "this world."
This world and what it's capable of terrifies us to no end.
I'm not talking about things like traffic accidents or medical conditions or that sort of thing. I mean stuff like kidnapping, molestation, rape, murder, etc. The stuff you hope you can protect your child from and you swear to yourself that you will do anything and everything in your power to shield them from... but you just cannot be there 24/7/365 (or 366 as the case is this year).
I realize that the likelihood of something akin to these crimes happening to our children is pretty miniscule. But the fact that there is even a likelihood at all, however low, just strikes me as wrong.
Katie and I, and many of you, watch shows like Criminal Minds and Cold Case and all those other police procedural dramas where they focus on the worst of the worst. You see reports about it in the news. And, even if you don't have kids, it still chills you to the core and makes you ask how one human being can do that sort of thing to another. And, more specifically and disgustingly, how can they do that to a child??
Children should be able to trust adults. They shouldn't have to fear them and what they could be capable of doing. They also should not have to fear friends and/or relatives. An episode of Cold Case Katie and I watched the other day hammered this one home.
Yet we must teach our kids about these dangers. We must instill doubt and mistrust in them so that they will be able to identify if something bad is happening to them and then do their best to escape. We effectively have to shatter, at least to a minor degree, the illusion that is childhood innocence in favor of the reality that is this world.
And I hate that. I hate this world for making me have to think this way and worry about that on behalf of my future child. I hate humanity for being so depraved and self centered and unwilling to just let kids be kids because they can and they should and they deserve to be. The kids, that is.
If something like that does happen, I cannot guarantee that you won't see a headline like this one, but featuring my name in the body.
Can you tell I'm a cynic?
It's decided. I'm raising my child in a bubble. And there ain't a thing you can do to stop me.
I know I said that I would always follow up a parenting post with a TUA that is completely off topic. I'm just not sure what to do to follow up this post. Doesn't seem right.
I guess I could say that I watched Prometheus last night and LOVED IT!
It was a little slow in some parts and there was a point at which I wasn't sure if it was going to make its point, but the final 10-15 minutes erased those doubts entirely.
Freakin' spectacular! Just sayin'.