By now, we’ve all heard of the horrific shooting during a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie. Twelve people are dead and another 38 are injured. And you’ve most certainly heard that a 6-year-old and 3-month-old were among those rushed to the hospital.
What was your reaction to this? Shock? Sadness? A sick feeling in the pit of your stomach? Or were you too busy judging to even feel those things? For all the “perfect” parents in the world, this is apparently the time to slam the parents of those kids hurt in the theater shooting. Since “perfect” parents have such perfect children, they have time to point their fingers and shake their heads at the parents whose children suffered in the hands of a killer. “I can’t believe those kids weren’t in bed. It was after midnight!”
You know what I can’t believe? The fact that anyone would even bring that up as a topic of conversation right now. Forget the fact that a crazy person managed to walk into a movie theater with tear gas and a gun and open fire on hundreds of people. Forget the fact that dozens of families are either mourning the loss of a loved one or waiting for updates on their loved ones in the hospital. Let’s talk about bedtimes instead. Heck, let’s talk about breastfeeding too! I bet you those parents didn’t breastfeed either. And I bet they let their kids watch more than an hour of television a day. Maybe they even let them eat cake. Bad, bad, bad parents.
What should we learn from this shooting?
That guns are too accessible? That there should be more security at movie theaters? That we should focus more on the treatment of the mentally ill?
I have no idea. It’s definitely a good time to think about all of these things and discuss them. But I’ll tell you what we should absolutely, positively not learn from this shooting: that kids who go to late night movies, or whose parents let them stay up past bedtime will be shot.
“Perfect” parents, I’m talking to you. Stop being so judgy, and try feeling a real emotion for a change.
Now seems like a great time to reiterate my stance on parenting: stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and focus on your own family.
What’s your stance on parenting? Are you in the MYOB camp with me, or are you full of opinions that you love to share?
