We’ll pay for failing our kids

Re Do some nations plain dislike children?, Mallick, July 11

It’s hard to believe anyone dislikes children enough to hurt them for political or other reasons. However, with America’s familyseparation policy, the church’s child-abuse history and Canada’s residential treatment of Indigenous children, Heather Mallick has made a convincing case to the contrary.

It’s true that parents who fawn over their own children often show no concern for the fate of others’ children. Even more disturbing is how quickly and easily we take advantage of the parental care that raises future generations as we default on our collective responsibility for child-rearing. Like motherhood and apple pie, parenting gets full lip service but scant support as stay-athome parents are kept low in the pecking order.

The disdain we reserve for parents who actually care for their children is obvious when we say that since they brought the little creatures into the world, it’s their responsibility to look after them.

We will pay in a thousand ways for failing in our collective duty to protect children.

Only a loco society neglects its duty of “in loco parentis.” Salvatore Amenta, Stouffville