There are few times when writing makes me cringe.
This is one of them.
Basing from the title, you understand why.
Last week we touched on why parents don’t let kids play much outside.
One of the reasons was fear of putting children in danger whether it be accidents or criminals.
And while I’d like to think every parent struggles with managing such fears, there are a few who seem to manage well – to the point of endangering their children.
How can a child test positive for cocaine?
Reuters reports that police entered a Florida, US, hotel room after someone complained about prostitution and drugs going on. They found 2 men and a little boy inside.
The room smelled like marijuana and cops eyed a white substance which was later verified to be cocaine.
The unfortunate part?
The little boy was positive for cocaine after being tested in a hospital.
How can a little boy use drugs?
Police think he ate it.
Where was the mom?
One of the men from the room claimed she ran to the store. Police have yet to find her but are going to charge her with neglect for placing her son in danger.
I left out other details…
Because for me, what’s important is that this serves as a great reminder for parents:
To think carefully about the consequences of our actions.
How much do we REALLY know about the people we entrust our children to, even if it were just for a quick 5 – 10 minutes?
What kind of environment do we leave our children in even for a split second?
It doesn’t matter what the mom does for a living, or who the 2 men really were. What’s important is that we learn to think critically about the very essence of parenting:
Keeping children safe.
How does the story make you feel?
About Anne Mercado
very unfortunate. My heart bleeds for childrens who are victims of neglect be it intended or not… what more for those children who are victims of any type of abuse.
Spanish Pinay
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It is such a sad story but we can all learn something from it.
I see these type stories on the new sites and I try to stay away, they are so heart breaking. When children are involved, I think because I am a mommy now, it hurts me inside even more then before.
It’s so true to KNOW who you leave your children with. But then it’s not always easy to know. My brother and I were babysat by a neighbors son, one that my parents knew. They knew the parents as well. But come to find out that day I got molested. Who knew? I am very leery of ANYONE watching my boys that I don’t know extremely well. So what happens? My grandparents and my parents are the only ones who watch the boys. I am blessed to have them in town. Otherwise I know I wouldn’t have many baby sitters. I am so picky..
This reminds me of an Adam 12(old tv show, like 1950 and 1960 era) I watched. A mom did drugs, and she was out and her two boys were playing with the pills. Ended up being passed out almost to the point of death. The women, the MOTHER, denied the drugs, even though they were in front of her, and her boys almost dead. The Adam 12s were based on true stories. Truly SICK!
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Thank you for sharing that – you seem such a bright and sunny person that I would have never guessed something happened when you were young. But you know what? It is scary to entrust your kids to others. You just never know what can happen.
I have not hear of that show…and am surprised that they aired such a controversial topic during that time it aired.
The first thing that comes to my mind is HOLY CRAP! I cannot fathom this. I cannot believe how SAD this is. SAD. I have a 4 year old. I am in a new neighborhood. I would hope that I could trust these families on our new block. This makes me second guess my ability to trust these new neighbors.
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It really is difficult to know who to trust – and that’s just the way life is unfortunately. You hear, read and watch stories about people who are shocked to find that their friends were real bad folks.
Not to scare you but… just pointing it out. I pray you find trustworthy folks in your new neighborhood, Kristie.
Anne I think you make such an excellent point about not focusing on what the mom does for a living or who the men were that she left them with. Often in these stories it’s so easy to say to ourselves, well I’m not doing that, and I would never leave my child in a situation like that, so although I feel sorry for this child this will never happen to me. When in fact, it very well could. We don’t always know what someone does, or what they have in their house. Leaving a child alone or with somebody else is always a gamble. We do have to be so careful when it comes to our very precious gifts. Thanks for a great and important piece!
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Glad you like it and I try to always leave readers with something to chew on or a takeaway. There are lessons to be learned everywhere and often times, we miss it because we focus on something else like judging the mother.
After I read the news piece, my first thought was to hug my son. You are right: we have to be careful when it comes to our children. Always.
This story makes my heart sick. We never know what the children around us are going through. We expect that other parents love and care for their kids like we do. While we don’t want to be over bearing and over protective parents, always hovering, we have to be diligent and watchful of where we allow our children go!
Great post!
Blessings,
~Erin
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Twitter: ErinPatrick
Isn’t parenting tricky? There are fine lines between being protective, watchful, diligent and hovering. But in the end, our goal is to protect as long as we can.
That’s horrible parenting. I hope they catch the mom and give her some lesson!
Twitter: mrskolca
My heart goes out to the boy.. hope he finds a better home where he’ll be truly cared for.
Oh my word, this story makes me mad, this is why people that God bless with children, dont understand the importance of raising them. There are many married couples that cant get pregnant and have children, that would love that child the correct way. This is so upsetting to me. Praying for the little boy.
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That’s true, Pamela. There are a lot of people who want to have kids, at the same time, there are a lot of people who don’t seem to understand how blessed they are to have kids.
Breaks my heart. No child should be exposed to drugs, nevermind be allowed to ingest any.
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So true.. and am wondering what effect it will have on his 4-year old brain.
Wow. This story makes me sick to my stomach. You just can’t trust anyone nowadays, especially with your children. Such a sad world.
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It is sad… That’s why it’s so important to have a great community while raising your kids.
Just makes me so sad and so sick
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It is very sad, Sharon.
It breaks my heart that one can be so careless with such a beautiful child! The poor little boy!
We rarely leave our children with baby sitters, and even then we have to know them VERY well, before we entrust our children to them. For us, our kids are just too valuable to not take precautions.
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Choosing caretakers are tough as well. That’s why the next best option is relatives but not everyone lives close to their families.
Absolutely brutal. I don’t think I could try to parallel my personal thoughts about parenting anywhere near this story. What some children are forced into is just heartbreaking. Hug your littles.
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Just hugged and kissed the little (sleeping) one, Val.
I am at loss for words.
I mean, I don’t even have the heart to leave my son in the care of my in-laws. And now this. @&$^*^#!*!!!
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It is very sad right? I guess we’re really all wired differently.
My son is 8, and we still only let family watch him. I also refuse to watch other people’s children as well because I don’t want the responsibility. Too many things can happen, and I’d never forgive myself is something happened to a child while I was in charge…
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It would seem that the safest thing to do is let relatives watch our children. Watching other people’s kids is such a great responsibility, so I know how you feel.
This is very close to home (Florida here) I can’t imagine. It is a shame what some parents expose their kids to. And the mom did not come back….because she was afraid she may get arrested! wth? smh
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I would have thought that the mom would show up by now. Any news on who the boy is staying with now?
Ugh! This makes me sick. This story is one of the very reasons I hate watching the news. Our world has turned so ugly and it breaks my heart to see children being put in danger or harmed because of parents being irresponsible. People close to me often comment that I’m a little over paranoid when it comes to the safety of my children. Oh well. I’d rather be an over paranoid mom than have something awful happen to my child. I realize I can’t control everything, but I can put safety first when it comes to parenting decisions.
Twitter: ChrstianSuprMom
Completely understand why you’d be “paranoid”… like I said, our primary role is to keep children safe.
so so so sad. the things ppl do around kids is just mind blowing!
It is… thanks for dropping by, Stephanie.
Stories like these always make me very angry. I don’t know what you can do about bad parents, but they might be the single, biggest problem a society faces. The consequences and repercussions are endless.
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There may or may not be a solution to remedy that but… I’d like to think parents who make wrong decisions (including myself) learn from it and never repeat it. That’s important. (And I really appreciate you leaving comments when you drop by… just so you know, been thinking of ways to show my appreciation.)
That is terrible. That poor child. You sometimes have to wonder about some parents. There are people who want children so badly and can’t have them and then there are people like this who have kids and don’t seem to worry about them much or think about the consequences of certain decisions.
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This is so true Katy – I know a few people who have been wanting to have kids but it unfortunately, the don’t have any yet. I think reading this article will make parents hug their kids, especially the younger ones.
Gosh, that’s a sad story. I have a feeling though, that the mother knew exactly who she was leaving her child with. Breaks my heart.
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I suppose she did which is why it’s so sad… Thanks for dropping by here Ashleigh.
This is so tragic. I hate hearing stories like this. When I was growing up my parents, I felt at least, were way over protective. We lived in the country and didn’t always have close neighbors, so I felt smothered. But when my own kids were young, you better believe they never went outside without my supervision, or someone I fully trusted. And I NEVER left them with anyone I didn’t know well. This story just breaks my heart.
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I sometimes let my kid step out of the house with the nanny to go to a nearby store. It makes me worry a lot but sometimes feel that I should let him experience short trips to the store with someone else. It’s tough trying to balance being protective and giving a bit of freedom.
I hate stories like this. We should be responsible as parents. This is so disturbing.
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It really is, Irene. Truly sad.