Americans love their kids, right? RIGHT? WTF is wrong with some people?

[havocmom]

Slide show at HuffPost just blew me away. The stupid, neglect, abuse.... it should burn the idiot adults involved!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/the-funniest-parenting-fa_n_578096.html

fer instance:



What the hell is wrong with people that they are so caviler with youngsters? If ya don't want to expend the time and energy to raise them, DAILY, don't have them! :grr:

[Brickbat]

1. Some of those I thought were kind of funny, and some that could be out of context.

Man, if someone took pictures of some of the "bad" parenting moments I had...

[WinkyDink]

2. I, for one, do not think Americans love their children. We sexualize them, propagandize them, ignore

them when we aren't micro-managing every da*n minute of their days, bribe them, and live vicariously through them.

[Kerrytravelers]

4. I bet you're a teacher.

I am. I feel every word of your post. The things I've seen and the things I've called CPS on would roll your eyes back in your head.

[havocmom]

6. For too many families, and society as a whole, I saddly concure

Havocdad says most of the people he knows with kids have them because they need photos for their wallets and think kids are some form of ID in America, like, I is a grown up. I haz babies.

He loves kids and kids love him. Too many parents make his shudder and head for his man-cave. The way kids get treated makes us both very sad.

[Akoto]

21. My folks loved me, and still do today.

They worked harder than I can ever know to provide me with a good childhood, and though we never had it great, I know that my youth was much better for their efforts than many others in the world had. I wasn't always the ideal child, but they gave me the freedom to be my own person, to make my own political and religious decisions.

I ended up disabled with chronic pain, and they continue to support me now that I've lost my ability to work. I never made it out of the household. Caring for me is a job I can never adequately thank them for, but I have yet to hear a complaint. Truth be told, relying upon my parents at age twenty-five is deeply humiliating, but they won't hear anything of it. Sometimes, shit just happens in life, says my mother.

[proteus_lives]

38. Which nations love and do not love their children?

[Tailormyst]

39. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am American and I love mine.

In fact my entire life revolves around making sure they become happy, healthy, successful adults.

[Kerrytravelers]

3. Those were some bad examples of parenting.

Dangling your kid in an animal cage? Covering them in their stroller with groceries? A strip joint? Really?

And although terribly, terribly wrong, I think this poor soul really needs a babysitter while they get some fresh air. No kid that age can do anything bad enough to deserve this:



Even the duckie? What did he do? :shrug:

[havocmom]

8. the duck made me think, just for a second: Graywarrior has a granddaughter?

But, no, Gray would never do such a thing in real life, even to a duck, let alone a beautiful child.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Technically, a snake that size would not be interested in a child that size -

that snake is still on the Guinea pig or small rabbit diet.

And the stroller in the grocery store - who hasn't run in for one thing and wound up picking up more than expected? If he didn't bury the kid in groceries he'd have to go all the way back to the front to get a cart, and that's a waste of time any...oh, yes, peanut butter - can't forget the peanut butter.

[havocmom]

10. I realize. And since babies put out the BTUs, the snake probably thought 'soft hot rock'

but it shows a serious lack of thought on part of adult who allowed it to happen. Little people not as strong as snakes and a snuggling snake might inadvertently smother a small child while seeking out body heat to snuggle with.

Sad tales of babies getting smothered in ways that just make you wonder what the adults were thinking.

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. Good point - the whole weight of the snake on the baby's chest would

be more than the kid could sustain. I didn't consider that aspect of it.

[HopeHoops]

7. I used to own a snake (boa). They're fucking fast.

It would take that thing less than a second to wrap around that baby and begin crushing the living shit out of it. The ONLY way to unwind a constrictor is from the head end. And God help you if they get into a mess of coat hangers (been there).

[havocmom]

12. Fast and strong. Worked with a woman with snake not much bigger than in picture

That thing could escape it's bedroom (yes, bedroom, not terrarium) and have furniture moved when she got home with groceries.

Her snake tipped the fridge into the counter in her galley style kitchen several times. Curl up behind it where it haz a warm, then stretch out and flex to get somewhere else after a nap.... CRASH! Big fridge at 45 degrees against the opposite counter.

[HopeHoops]

18. Yeah, I got mine when he was 20" and all of the width of a pencil.

He was about 4 1/2' and as thick as my arm in his mid-section when I gave him away. The daughter of my biology teacher had an apartment with a sunroom and she planned to give him free run of the place. Frankly, the main reason I had to give him away is that he started to look at the cat sideways.

He used to sleep inside my shirt, curled up at my waist on one side. I did have a few times when he wrapped around me in a way that made me uncomfortable. If you own a snake that size, you have to have a LOT of mirrors in the house. That's the only way to unwrap one.

[Dappleganger]

29. Thanks for reminding me why we don't allow snakes in the house.

We do have a lot of strange critters but being that snakes tend to be escape artists, we know what would probably happen. I only allow what will not bother me sleeping at night if it gets out.

Bearded dragons, hedgehogs, chinchillas--yes.
Snake--NO

[HopeHoops]

36. I've always wanted a chinchilla. We've got a bunny - that's close enough for now.

Two dogs, 3 cats, a fish, a bunny, and a shitload of hermit crabs.

And of course, all of my spiders. They get free run of the house.

[Dappleganger]

42. Chins are great, but unfortunately we need to find them a new home.

The dust they use has become completely unbearable for our allergies and asthma. Our home is an open plan and we have nowhere else to put them. We were hoping to find a larger home last year but alas, that isn't happening. :(

Hermit crabs are awesome!

[Jennicut]

9. Taking your daughter to a bar to watch the swimsuit contest with you...how lovely.

I have two little girls. They are 4 and 5 years old. They tire me out and drive me crazy sometimes and there are times it is a thankless job but if you become a parent it is not totally about you anymore. Some of these people shouldn't be parents but I guess that is too late. I am not perfect by any means but there IS common sense with what is good for kids, is there not?

[Tailormyst]

11. Errr - we duct taped my son to the wall when he was 4!

It was funny as hell and when we took him down he shouted "Do it again, do it again" through all his giggling. Some of the other pictures are scary though, especially the wild animal ones.

I will say even after being so horribly abused, he's turned out pretty darn well :)

[havocmom]

13. Sorry, duct taping children is just not cute

[pipi_k]

14. Actually, the one with the kid on the lead...

makes sense to me.

Yeah, I know...some people would have big issues with that.

but I wonder if people whose small children have been kidnapped almost virtually right out from underneath their noses (perhaps murdered as well) ever think about how different their lives would be today if only....

Or kids who have run out into traffic and gotten hit by a car...

If a parent can't be 100% aware of where his/her kid is every single second when out in public, then I think a "leash" is entirely appropriate.

[guitar man]

15. I do not understand

Duct taping that child to the wall. :grr:

you could duct tape him to a post and use a lot less tape, think of the planet people!

:D

[NNN0LHI]

16. Why would parents dress their little kids in camouflage outfits?

I look at the parents and shake my head in disbelief at their ignorance.

Don

[Echo In Light]

22. Beaming proud that their children may one day kill & be killed for corporate power

... in the guise of 'defending free-dumb!'

[RaleighNCDUer]

23. They hope the kid will wander off into the woods and not be found? nt

[pipi_k]

17. From the same site...

"Shit my kids ruined"

It's a hoot! :7

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/12/shit-my-kids-ruined-the-b_n_572304.html

[Robb]

19. This is why I felt ready to be a parent.

Having raised several Siberian Huskies, I no longer harbored any illusions about the permanence of nice things.

My daughter will have to work very, very hard to match the dogs' sheer destructive power. :D

[pipi_k]

26. OMG people probably have no idea

of how absolutely true that is!

I have two young German Shepherds who would totally destroy the house if they were left alone for more than 15 minutes.


A basket load of dog toys just doesn't have the same appeal as, for instance, the fabric on the back of the sofa, the kitchen wastebasket, a ball of yarn innocently left on the counter, a pair of eyeglasses, or six (formerly very large) honeysuckle bushes growing along the fence of their yard.


:+

[tammywammy]

34. That site "shit my kids ruined" is HILARIOUS!

God, makes me sooo glad I don't have kids, but that's some funny stuff right there. :rofl:

[Tailormyst]

40. Awesome

[Deep13]

20. Okay, a few are probably out of context. ...

The kid looking out the tavern window may have been a family business. The hospital scene is probably a split second and not the lingering waiting that a still photo makes it look like. The kid with the toy shopping carriage may have been posed. Even if not, so what? He's not drinking the bear. The kid with presumably her father in the bar with the bikini model isn't really being exposed to any harm. The segue stroller push is odd, but not really harmful.

Most of the others are pretty hard to figure out. What would possess anyone to expose a baby to a snake that probably eats baby-sized food? The duct tape wall seat is pretty bad, but not as bad as the ATV seat. I can only hope the latter was staged as a joke and was never actually used. I can only hope the racoons were in a zoo, tame and disease free. Even so, seems like a risky thing to do.

[havocmom]

28. thinkin yer gonna get agruements re the little girl at the flesh fest

Sorry, but THAT is not a sterling activity for dad and kid. Treating females as objects is NOT a worthwhile life lesson, for boys or girls.

[Deep13]

32. How is it treating females as objects?

Seems to me that this view is a hold-over from Victorian times where all this physical were profane while all things "spiritual" are holy. I reject that distinction. Sexual repression in a society is very well correlated to social violence. We are a very repressed society and a very violent one. Holland isn't repressed and it isn't violent.

Anyway, I'm not suggesting that this is a good idea, only that it isn't harmful.

[havocmom]

35. ah, bunch of guys hootin and hollaring at the meat market

Seriously, no clue as to what might be unhealthy there as role models for boys or as a lesson to girls that this is how one gets approval/acceptance? Seriously?

Hopeless if serious.

edited for typo

[Deep13]

37. I'm not hopeless. I've just moved beyond... EDIT

...typical bourgeois, tribal values. Your use of the term "meat market" is implicitly dualistic relying on the implied division between the perfect spiritual and sinful physical. One is somehow not supposed to emphasize physical attraction despite millions of years of evolutionary drive. This point of view is ultimately grounded in Pauline Christianity. It is irrational and I reject it.

So it's not that I don't understand. I just think you're wrong.

And again, I'm not saying this is a good idea, only that it is not harmful.

EDIT: Took another look at the pic. It really looks like a stripper show. That kid definitely should not be there. She might be confused by it, but I still think there won't be any real damage.

[havocmom]

41. Thank you for noticing it was NOT a beach picnic LOL

:hi:

[TwilightGardener]

24. The only one that really shocked me was the baby-tossing photo.

Why would anyone ever throw their babies into the air? I hope that was photoshopped.

[pipi_k]

27. That one nearly made me sick

If that were my child's father, I would seriously have to do some ass-kicking.

Or demand he get psychiatric help.

[havocmom]

30. At the very least, a bit of a consciousness raising for those guys

This is a football.... {show football}

This is a CHILD. {show child}

This is gravity {toss up a melon over a concrete patio and let it drop}

DO NOT confuse child with football EVER AGAIN

:grr:

edited for typo

[Egnever]

31. A lot of those were obvious photoshops.

[Deep13]

33. I doubt it was photoshopped.

It seems like a really unnecessary risk.