Apparently Parent

 Parenting has turned into an app. Sound unreal? Of course, you can't turn time back but you can also be brave enough to look back and see what worked and make comparisons. Parenting in some cases is an actual app. It's an app on Mom and or Dad's cell phone and it is said to keep on eye on the kids while the parent is or parents are, both at work. Oh yes, there is usually a babysitter or child minder in  the picture. Somewhere or someone. I can see why in societies once ancient, but still viable, they have the wisdoms of family responsibility taken seriously. The grandparents or some other family member, is given the privilege of child care while the parents are otherwise occupied. It is a "privilege" because what the child absorbs like a little cultural sponge, is not only what you are and were, but also what your line will be. It's a huge challenge to have babies these days when it takes two to make a living what with rents and mortgages. And many parents are single. In our multi faceted multi race Canadian populations, we have examples to follow from those around us. We can see what works and what doesn't. That's one of the benefits of being open minded enough to appreciate our variety of cultures in child rearing. One of the couples I know are elderly and daily they care for their grandchildren either at the home of the parents or in their own home. They have dedicated their lives to that work and it is work. But they love it. Their grand children are very fortunate to have people as surrogates who are of their own blood and background and who are willing to love them and be truly part of their lives. The children are young, still in Elementary School, and thus happy to have such care as  their grandparents teach them and model for them. I can hear what some may say: not all grandparents or relatives are suitable care givers. That can be true. And it is sad that grandparents and other relatives don't always have, nor want to take, the time and effort to put into child care in the parents' absence. Public child care is said to be coming up and one hopes that there is sufficient training and personnel to accommodate the far-reaching importance of it.  Too many individuals want to have babies, but only because they "want" it and not because they have put much thought into what it entails. The idea is lovely. Everyone wants a darling baby, but sometimes the actual outcome doesn't fit the dream. Babies are a great deal of work and time. It isn't all sweetness and giggles. It is tiring and trying and in spite of the great rewards, there is tremendous commitment. Why have a baby and then immediately hand it over to a hired stranger? Having a baby is a lifetime, twenty-four seven "job"  whether you are present every minute or not. A baby is a little person who needs constant reassurance of safety and love and nurturing. That doesn't usually come altogether from paid strangers or a bit of parental time grabbed in a busy day after work. It isn't having supper together and a bed time story. It's listening always, anytime to the child, being there with the child, playing its games and being ever close. It isn't pay the monthly child care bill, dropping the kid off at school or taking an hour here and there, and calling it parenting. It's way more, and doing the way more prevents your offspring, your DNA and that of your predecessors since the beginning of time, from needing a gang as family or taking substances to ease stress or your child weeping into the night with no one to know. A child is full time all the time.