Poor Parenting

One of my responsibilities as a parent (as I see it) is to raise Owen to be a good person. Someone who treats others with respect, who is gentle and kind, and is caring and loving.

There are days when I think this would be a far easier task if it weren't for other parents. These are the parents who do not role model the values that support my definition of a good person. These are the parents who turn a blind eye to their child's bad behaviour. These are the parents who I hear saying things like "boys will be boys..."

I try not to be judgmental of the way other people choose to parent their children, but when it impacts my son, my Mama Bear instincts take over. And I have to confess that I will 'parent' other children if their parents don't step up.

It takes a village to raise a child... but what if you're living with the wrong villagers?

There are a few boys in our complex who are very aggressive and sadly have parents who don't seem to be capable of doing anything about it. In fact, once after her son hit Owen over the head with a toy bat (plastic fortunately) one mother commented that Owen was a very sensitive child rather than deal with the fact that her son just hit someone over the head with a bat.

What am I doing about it?

We have no intention of moving...

So, I try my best to limit the interactions that we have with these people. I am much more likely to closely monitor Owen when playing with these children. And I am working to build relationships with the other like-minded parents so that we have more interactions with their children than the others.

And I hope that these people choose to move...