We Are Not Born With An Instruction Manual

It is a shame, that when new babies come into the world, they are not delivered with an instruction manual. Back when I was younger, I purchased many things, mostly toys for our kids, that needed to be assembled. They always came with a manual. We didn't have a lot of money, so when the car needed repairs, I got greasy and repaired it myself. If the job was extra challenging, I went to the library or the parts store and got a repair manual. Those manuals and other do-it-yourself books were great. Those books allowed me to succeed at tasks that would have been beyond me otherwise.

My wife and I had three daughters. I cannot tell you the times I wish I had an instruction manual for parenting. Neither of us had good basic training in parenting skills from our own rearing. So we did the best we could. I'm sure we made more mistakes in the process than could be counted. But our daughters turned out to be great, accomplished women, who now, I'm sure, wish that they had an instruction manual for our grandkids. I now appreciate that commercial on TV. "To be a parent, you don't have to be perfect. You just have to try." It seems to have worked for us.

Why am I writing all this? Through the graces of "You Tube" and all of those people with cameras in their smartphones, I am seeing more parenting out in the world today that goes beyond what I ever thought of as bad parenting.

Bad enough is the frustrated would-be sports hero that has a kid riding the bench at a little league game, getting physical with the coach. Or the soccer mom that take a wild swing at a referee. But I have seen full grown adults punching kids because their poor little baby got bumped while base running. Please.

I have seen video where mothers actually delivered their daughters to a fight with another girl over a boy and then watched the mother wade into the fight against children. I have seen parents with their kids start riots in parking lots over trivialities.

With parents like this in the world, it is no wonder that we are being overrun with feral children who have no social values except their own pleasure and no sense of remorse about anything. The only life they value is their own. The only pain they acknowledge is their own.

For many, their lives will be short and unpleasant for the most part. They will know little pleasure and no peace. I am just  sorry for the pain they will bring to others during their pathetic existence. What is more the shame is that they have parents that didn't even try. And that is sad.