Day 4,519—Parents Need to make a Vow to their Children—

 

Start time: 4:30 a.m.

Weather: Low 82s wind 1.3  mi/h, Humidity 74%

        It isn’t something you hear discussed a lot, but the concept of a marriage vow serves a practical purpose: it makes it clear what one’s role and responsibility is for their partner when they enter marriage. There is never anything earthshattering about what you vow, but it becomes so commonplace for both men and women to break their vow and think nothing of all the people they lied to when they entered the agreement. I get that the main issue is breaking trust with their partner, but what about society at large?! It just makes me think that marriage should have more of a contract-based agreement where, if you break your vow, you void your agreement. If you hurt or cheat your spouse, you’re in violation and owe compensation. Yet, however meaningless the marriage vow is in the legal system, there is no kind of agreement parents make to their children.

        Yet, when parents abandon their children for any reason, it is like they take a shovel and dig a hole in their child’s chest and then expect someone else to come around and fill it for them. That child will not heal easily, and it is the parents' responsibility for violating their basic duty as parents. Yet, what do society and the court system do? They blame the child and give the kids back to the parents in almost every case in Missouri and make no acknowledgment of the huge violation that the parent has made. Being a parent is not a right, just like marriage is not a right. It is a privilege, and privileges can be taken away based on conduct. I know this issue is more complex than I present here, and the current foster system is broken. Many foster parents are guilty of seeing children as free money from the state, as opposed to having any interest in helping children, but that doesn’t change the fact that parents have an inherent responsibility to protect and provide for their children, and if they cannot do that, they should not be allowed to be parents.