October 6, 2010: If it's so damn cold outside, why the hell are you wearing that!

Today was a typical California winter, as in, it rained. And as expected we had the horrible drivers, but that's for another day.

What really got me today was watching a woman walking her kids in a stroller while they were dressed in clothes meant for summer! I understand that it's "Mommy's right" to dress the kinds until they're five or six in whatever the hell she wants. But since when is a tutu appropriate attire for cold, muggy, rain? You may be working out pushing that two seated stroller around town, but their little butts aren't!

This is a perfect example of Mommy pretending her kids are dolls, dressing them up in whatever cute little outfit she wants to see them in. While I'm not against dressing up your kids in cute outfits, I feel like you've just crossed the line from responsible parent to sixteen year old idiot. If it's cold outside, you would dress yourself appropriately, wouldn't you? You would wear pants, a sweater or jacket, and maybe a scarf or gloves if you're into that. Why? Because it's cold outside! So why do you think it's a good idea to put a tulle tutu skirt on your kid? Why isn't your infant wearing a hat? Those little bodies are more sensitive to temperature than you are.

Use your heads when you dress your kids, please. For their shivery little sakes.

Love, Polly.

September 18, 2010: Children are NOT pets!

I've become more frustrated as I see more and more parents relying on the public school system to act like child care. This is not what teachers are for! They are not to be the sole disciplinary power in your child's life, they are not to be the only sense of structure they have ever seen. When your child's teacher says, "John had a bad day today, he threw a chair" do NOT take John for ice cream and Chuck E. Cheese. Take your child home, and spank him. John won't be throwing a chair tomorrow, I'll bet you. If you don't believe in spankings (which is fine, I'm rather archaic compared to the current parenting trends) then do time-out or whatever it is you do. You should be involved in your child's life. Don't let someone else raise them because you're too busy. You brought that ankle biting wonder into the world, you will damn well take responsibility for it.

Feeding your child, taking them to the doctor, and just in general providing for them should be your first responsibility. I understand that some of you are single parents trying really hard to make ends meet. But when you don't have money for food and you spend the money you should have had on clubbing, you're going to piss me off. Booze or cigarettes or whatever crap you do recreationally are NOT greater than your child's needs. If your child needs crayons for school than that better come before that new toothbrush you need.

I know this sounds harsh, but the younger that parents get the more they think they're good parents just because they're struggling. They believe that they DESERVE to have nights out because they had to be "Mom" or "Dad" all week. But the truth is, being a parent is a full time job with no sick days. That's all there is to it, you don't deserve anything. You get whatever you can scrape together. But don't take out your inability to be responsible on your children. When other parents or coaches or teachers know your child better than you, that is a problem. A serious problem that means you need to be back in the loop.