I have written this post twice today. This is the third time. The first time I was really sad. The second I was very angry. Neither really read well.
CNN has an article about the abuse and neglect of babies. It states that 1 in 50 babies will be abused or neglected within the first year of their life. A third of these babies will be under the age of one week.
I can't stop thinking about when our kids were first born. I can remember the excitement of bringing them home. I can even remember with Randy, thinking that the doctors were crazy to let me take him home. What did I know about taking care of something so small? As scared as I was, I knew I would do everything and anything to keep him, and then his sisters, safe.
I keep wondering how parents could be so selfish and so stupid. Do they know what they are doing? Are they people I know?
I shouldn't have been surprised really. I can't imagine what the statistics are for all children. I am afraid to look it up.
3 comments:
That is so sad. I really think that parents who beat there children should be beaten themselves and left for dead.
My husband and I thought the same thing when we had our first. We were giggling in the hospital and then horrified. "Are they REALLY going to let us leave WITH her?" We got home and put her in between us on the couch, just staring at her, waiting for her to whimper or cry or indicate she wanted SOMETHING. I changed her diaper every half hour whether it needed it or not. I was always in "cat ready to pounce" mode.
I just had my third baby a month ago. There's a lot I'd forgotten but not how small and helpless they are. How they love to be held and talked to. How much they need us for everything. I can understand being frustrated and begging the kid to go back to sleep at 3 am because you are exhausted, offering the promise of cash and toys. Especially when you are doing the single mother gig for a while. But beating a baby/child and totally neglecting them? I believe there's a special place in hell reserved for those monsters.
I was never even frustrated with mine until past 3 weeks old. It is SO EASY to comfort them at that age, I don't understand it. Or maybe I've just been lucky with easy kids or something. And while I can understand the frustration, sheesh, go punch a wall, leave the kid alone. It is so sad, and makes me go hug mine even more.
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