Posted by
Gunnysez on Sunday, December 23, 2007 9:38:02 AM
Latch-key kids. Mothers who have to leave their children alone in their home so they can go work long hours to feed, clothe and house them. I think it is sad that children must fend for themselves, but not everyone is blessed with a two-parent home, or has parents that had the foresight to wait to have children until they could afford them. I know it isn't the children's fault that society has taken a turn for the worse in the past 50 years. Lax moral values and a casual "so what" attitude toward sex and mariage that utterly disregards the consequences of unplanned and unwanted children are the main causes of this problem.
Not all latch-key kids are the product of a cavelier attitude toward life and poor planning, some are due to a dibilitating illness or death of the main breadwinner. Most of these unfortunate people, however, will go through a short readjustment period, then get on with their lives. There are plenty of social welfare programs and in most cases, family who will step up to the plate and get these folks over the rough-spots.
The problem isn't that there aren't any government programs to help, it's that there are too many. The redundancy in these programs is scandalous. There are also several local city and church groups who are willing to assist in many ways.
The self-induced latch-key problem has grown to epidemic proportions and is a fact of life that we cannot ignore, yet, people continue to have children they cannot take care of. What can be done about that? Isn't that the problem that needs solving?
Realizing that the children come first is noble and fine, but making it easier for carefree single moms to have more children, and spending tax monies to care for those children, certainly isn't the answer. As long as we avoid the real problem, that of educating young people of the consequences of casual sex, and taking marriage vows seriously, the latch-key problem will continue to grow and to plague society.
Children, left to their own devices will usually find a way to find trouble. Statistics show that these are the children who are most likely to get involved in crime, drugs, early sex, and, as a result, develop serious health problems. Too many of them end up as wards of the state and/or in prison at an early age.
Aside from all that, leaving children alone and unsupervised on the internet, in this time of increased sexual predation, is tantamount to letting them play with a loaded gun.
As long as we encourage people to take on the mantle of victimhood, and lead them to believe that it is the government's job to step in and take over, the problem will not only remain with us, it will continue to grow exponentialy.
To blame this on the economy and on Capitalist cold-heartedness is to shift the responsibility away from those who put themselves in this situation in the first place. Besides, the more money earned, the more money the government takes away to pay for social service programs. It's a vicious cycle that feeds on itself.
The answer is education and our children are not receiving it. They have been criminally neglected by the public school system for far too long.