Shirlee Smith | March is Parenting Awareness Month

A closely-held secret month of celebration is March which has, in some states, been declared Parenting Awareness Month.
If you live in Texas, you might well be in the dark about this yearly focus, but if either Michigan or California is your home state, activities should be a-poppin.’

There tends to be a month set aside for just about any and everything you can think of from jellyfish, well, to jelly.

So, thanks for Parenting Awareness Month – but . . .

Unfortunately, the events, forums, presentations and family-focused activities don’t reach those parents who need awakening.

The mom who held the palm of her 5-year-old daughter’s hand over the flame on the kitchen stove to teach the kid exactly what hot meant, had no clue she was not delivering a lesson but was, instead, abusing her child.

But mom said she doesn’t go to parent things because they don’t have anything to do with her.

No matter what the subject, there’s always something to learn. But when it comes to parenting, just about every one of us would proclaim we know all that’s necessary to get the job done.

What in the world are we supposed to be aware of? Whether on the farm or in the city, our own parents got the job done without some daffy state proclamation declaring a month of focus on that which we believe comes naturally.

Parenting doesn’t really come naturally, happening automatically when the fetus reaches maturity and is delivered from the womb and quite suddenly becomes a real-life person: a responsibility.

Most parents see themselves as being in charge of their children whether or not those in our society who have the power to pass judgement see their child raising practices as sound/good parenting.

This Parenting Awareness Month in California and in Michigan, and add in other states that might have the yearly celebration, ought to consider changing their continuous direction of reaching the same members of their communities, and instead develop an outreach program targeting folks like the mother who burned her daughter’s hand.

The responsibility of raising children to become productive members of society is crucial to family and community stability, but far too many parents are unaware of this. Parenting Awarness Month, which is pretty much in name only, fails to address this reality and ignores the gravity of the troublesome situation we can see everywhere.

If asked, wouldn’t just about all of us answer that how we raise our children is an individual right?

But the mother who abused her child while thinking it was a lesson would disagree because the social service department stepped into the picture.

How we raise children isn’t really an individual freedom anymore, so maybe this March awareness month needs to focus on reaching into households like that of the “burning hand” mom.