How to neglect your children

A negligent parent leaves their child in dirty nappies for hours without changing them.

A negligent parent doesn’t bother clothing their children from one day to the next.

A negligent parent puts their child in their carseat/playpen/cot all day.

A negligent parent puts themselves first.

A negligent parent shoves their child in their cot and goes out clubbing.

A negligent parent can’t be bothered to treat their sick child.

A negligent parent never spends any time with their precious offspring.

A negligent parent doesn’t cuddle their child to make them feel better, help them sleep, or just because they can.

A negligent parent doesn’t pace the floor with them if they wake in the night, or sleep on their floor when they are ill.

A negligent parent doesn’t go short of food themselves so that they have money to feed their children.

A negligent parent doesn’t spend hours scouring the internet for inspiring things to do with their children.

A negligent parent doesn’t ask their child how their day at school was.

A negligent parent doesn’t agonise over what to put in packed lunch boxes.

A negligent parent doesn’t read to their children, encourage them to learn, want them to see the world.

A negligent parents never boasts of their child’s accomplishments: they are never so proud they tell total strangers that their child just got a First at Oxford.

A negligent parent doesn’t worry when their child won’t eat or sleep or when they throw tantrums. They don’t tweet or blog or beg forum readers for advice.

A negligent parent doesn’t upload hundreds of pictures of their children to their blog or Facebook page; they don’t spend hours writing posts about parenthood; they don’t enter competitions to win child-products, or bite off the arm of some kindly PR to review a brilliant product.

A negligent parent is not hurt when they are accused of being neglectful. They don’t feel the need to defend themselves.

A negligent parent would not even bother reading an article which tells them they are neglecting their children.

 

 

“a failure to provide a child under one’s care with proper food, clothing, shelter, supervision, medical care, or emotional stability”

(source)