Mandatory Screening for Parenthood....

So today I am going to touch on something that is very near and dear to me... My children. I am a father of 4 beautiful kids ranging from 17 months to 6 years old. I would do anything for them and long to spend time with them. What baffles me today is that we let anyone and everyone have them. Does this make sense??? I don't think so. We try and regulate everything people do except have kids. We regulate how you can have sex (whether you pay or not and where), we regulate if you can drive a car, buy a house, own a gun, buy alcohol, GET A DOG but no screening for being a parent. Thousands of unfit parents are created every year when they decide to partake in the miracle of creating life. Children are born to Drug dealers, child molesters, rapists, unemployed homeless people all the time and we do nothing about it. A child is the greatest gift God has given us as human beings (not counting his son who died for us) and yet we mishandle this all the time. it would be simple, mandatory class that would test you together and independently as parents. See if at the least can you financially support a child and even better do you understand what being a mom or dad is about. Not just being the parent of a child but everything else that goes with it. I coach 2 baseball teams and several of my kids have 1 if not both parents that are borderline worthless. I honestly get choked up when I see a kid come to baseball that 1, doesn't have a glove, and 2, has obviously never been played with. These kids long for attention but have no clue how and what to do because of uninvolved parents. I try as much as possible to make my kids know I love them and I will be here for them in any way possible. I realize that something as little as baseball is not something to get worked up about but the point is this is just the tip of the iceberg. I know kids are abused, killed, drugged etc all the time it just happens to be that coaching is where I am exposed to the lack of involvement from parents. Enrolling them in an activity and getting the team picture to show them 10 years down the line is not being a good parent. At some point, they are going to say "Mom, how come there aren't any pictures of me at a game?" What are you going to say???? "I had a meeting?" "I was too busy on my blackberrry?" "I had too many pictures of the fishing trip I was on and there was no room left on the memory card?" COME ON PEOPLE, if you didn't want all of the extra stuff that comes along with kids then you should have bought a DOG. It is only a matter of time before one of these parents comes up to me and says something about playing time or "little Timmy really wants to be a first baseman" that is going to set me off. Maybe I will come back with "Well if you had done your job as a dad little Timmy might know if he should where the glove on his right or left hand much less catch a ball..." Most likely I will do the polite thing that I always do and say " I will see what I can work in the schedule " and inevitably I will end up teaching your kids how to be successful.