Don’t mess with my kid….

We all have pet peeves. They are little things said or done that you find irritating. You probably have one or two. This is one of mine:

I cringe whenever I hear a parent say something to the effect of “don’t mess with my kid or else.” Or else? Or else what? Does this parent plan to go after someone? To hurt them? Ruin their reputation? Kill them??

It’s a threat some parents say like it’s some kind of badge of honor, or like it is perfectly acceptable to lose it when it becomes personal. The name “Mama Bear” is popular now. It is said like she is a mother bear who will protect her cubs in anyway possible. Like a wild animal!! If she needs to maul someone she will.

Let me say right now, I love my daughters more than anything in the world. I love my grandchildren the same way. They are all precious, beautiful, wonderful, and lots of other superlatives. For me they are everything. My joy now. My hope for the future.

I want the best for them. But, I know we live in a crazy world with ups and downs, with bad people, and with some things beyond our control. I pray for their safety. I pray that they are not in any kind of accident. I pray in faith. But I live in the real world.

In the last meme post I wrote here, I told you about a local church with a church preschool and school, a large congregation, one that has been active in the community, and has offered many youth programs. Last week it came out that an older man who had worked/volunteered there for years was found on a public sex offenders list, identifying him as a sexual abuser of a minor. He had served his time and was out. But by law he was never to be around children. It was a horrible lapse of government follow through, but also the pastor, his wife, the school administrator, and some others knew of his past and allowed him there. Four people have been arrested so far and more may face legal action. The parents are rightly worked up over this, and social media is lit up with all kinds of concerns, and threats. Even a special Facebook group page has been created to share information, to vent, to join in unity to get justice for the accused.

I’m a parent. I totally understand how those parents with children at the church and school feel: frightened, mad, unsure if their own kids had had an encounter with the man. Some children are too little to tell. They are in shock. How can it happen here?

The Mama Bears are out in force. The threats are nasty. They want heads to roll.

There is a lot of emotion and not enough calm. There is that mentality of ‘you can’t do that to my kid.’ It’s that pet peeve I have heard over and over again…. Like it’s a ‘right’ to go off and say horrible things, and to judge, and to be insensible and insensitive because it’s MY KID.

I don’t know about you, but I want every kid to be safe. I want every child to have an opportunity to grow up without dealing with heavy adult issues, and I want little ones to have whatever they need to grow, to learn, to play, to become stable and happy people. Every kid should have the same, equal chance.

Oh, and I would never want my child or grandchild to hear me make a threat or ultimatum. “You better not mess with my kid or else.” That is bully talk. That is NOT how anything is settled properly. That’s a weird way to speak ‘love.’ It is not how mature people talk. And, it is certainly not what I want my kids and grandkids to grow up saying.