The people who piss me off…

So, I haven’t been on here much lately, obviously. Instead I’ve literally been in recovery when I get home from work. I am completely spent. Emotionally, mentally, and physically drained. I imagine that 5 weeks in constant crisis management could make a person crotchety, so perhaps that’s why I’m compelled to write…and in this tone.

The kids I work with, the ones who drain me, the ones I appear to be raising for other people are NOT the people who piss me off. The people who piss me off are their parents (I use the term loosely), their DHS workers (where applicable), and the people (only a couple) that I work with. And here’s the why…

The parents…it’s a long list, but I’ll try to keep it brief. These kids desperately need the services we provide. DESPERATELY. Yet, most of the parents can’t be bothered to bring the kids or pick them up at the end of the day. So, with the price of gas around $4/gallon, I go to their houses early in the morning and pick up “my” kids, and then I take them home. There is ONE of my colleagues that does this also…ONE. And we determined today that we feel like we’re sharing custody of these kids. Listen, I love my kids…but I want child support. Parents don’t give their kids the medicine they really really need (thanks to the parents who make my daily life hell), parents take vacations (without their children), parents who call or text me at all hours of the day to make excuses for why they can’t get their children to where they need to be. And the worst of all…the parents who don’t give their children any love, attention, or affection. It’s very obvious who these children are. There are the children who spend all day coming to give me hugs, who want to sit on my lap…and when they do, they grab my arms and wrap them around them and hold them there tightly. As happy as I am that I am there and can fill that need, I would love to smack the shit out of these parents. It breaks my heart.

So it most likely sounds elitist, but work where I work and have a different opinion. I fervently believe people should be required to have a license before they have a child. You need one to drive a car, you certainly should be required to have one to birth and raise another human being. Now I realize it would be a nightmare to enforce and all of that, and I realize it would put me out of a job/career, but I’m totally ok with that. If I have to find another line of work because all children are wanted, loved, and cared for I will gladly find another trade.

I can barely even address the DHS workers and all they do to piss me off. I get that they’re overwhelmed. Honestly, I do. But here’s the thing…don’t come to me and try to get me to say that a kid needs to be sent to residential care just because you don’t want to deal with him anymore. That’s weak.

And as for the people I work with…or at least the one major pain in my ass. If all you’re going to do is bitch and threaten to quit, not try to find a solution to your problem, and find fault with every possible solution presented to you…make good on your threat and leave. I will spend all my energy and then some on my kids, but I won’t waste it on your sorry borderline ass. Get the big picture. Get that in a lot of instances, we are all these kids have. Understand that whether or not a child hears you say these things, they sense it. And for the love of God, get that in comparison to the kids we work with, you are living an incredibly privileged life and you should be ashamed of yourself for bitching and whining about what you whine about. Do what’s best for the kids and shut your pie hole. And if you can’t do that, please allow me to show you the door. And now.

I’m just saying.