Bad parent makes bad decision

So for any of my regular readers who have come here looking for a light and happy post today, I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but today's post is anything but light and cheerful. What I have decided to speak about is a topic that makes me so furious, and is anything but pleasant to think about.

For any of you who live outside of Australia, or who do not read the Melbourne newspapers, you may be unfamiliar with the story of a woman called Melissa Ngati. She has made the news for the worst reasons ever. In November last year, she beat her own daughter so violently, the child will spend the rest of her life with permanent brain damage. Now I would never accept any kind of excuse for this behaviour, especially one as weak as Melissa's. Apparently her child vomited in her bed, and this was the event that warranted hurting her own child. For anyone who wants to see the full details, the article can be found here

Before I gave birth to Miss K, I hated hearing any stories of children who are abused, and found it very hard not to cry whenever I read another story, or saw pictures of victims of child abuse. Now that I am a mum with a beautiful child of my own, it is even harder to hear stories like this, as I could never imagine what kind of person could intentionally cause any harm to an innocent baby, especially one of your own. It is very hard not to get all vigilante when I see another news article detailing violence against children, and anyone within earshot of me usually cops an earful of language that would make a sailor blush.

Ricky Gervais landed himself in very hot water a few years ago when he suggested that bad parents should be sterilized to prevent them from endangering the lives of more children, but I'm not entirely sure his suggestion was a stupid one. Melissa was already a mother to three children when she beat up her daughter, and was pregnant with a fourth one at the time. Who knows how many of those kids had found themselves at the receiving end of her anger, and how could anyone guarantee that she would never do it again? No article anywhere on her details what happened to the rest of her kids, especially since she had a partner, but he is also facing charges as he didn't make her take her child to the hospital until THREE DAYS after the attack. Hopefully she has lost all four of her kids, and will spend the rest of her natural life in jail to prevent her from being given the chance to reproduce again.

I cannot stress enough how angry these stories make me, but given that I cannot go around personally removing the reproductive organs of everyone who hurts their children, this is one subject that leaves me feeling rather powerless. About the only thing I can do, and really everyone can do is not take our anger out on our children. Sure, kids know how to push your buttons better than anyone else can, but nothing in the world makes injuring a kid alright.