4-Year Old Boy Positive For Cocaine
From the archive. This post was first published on the original Green Eggs and Moms blog and is kept here as it was.
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?
Photo:Creative Commons from Little Boy