I should be in bed

I wanted to write this down before I forget about it. We went to lunch today, the four of us, after slogging through Target, Lowe's and TJMaxx in 100 degree heat with both boys. They deserved Steak-n-Shake (ok, I wanted it too).

Right after we ordered, a group came and sat in the booth next to us. So picture this....and it will sound completely not politically correct and I hope nobody is offended but I have to paint the picture....ok, there is a little boy, at least a year old but not two, and his two parents - both teenagers but the dad was a gangsta and the mom was a dippy idiot girl. Her parents were with them, I never saw the mom but the dad had one of those voicebox thingies on his larynx.

So they had sat down maybe all of five minutes when I hear the young girl yell at her little boy "sit down! GOD! Why won't you just SIT DOWN? I just want to beat his butt! MOM??? What am I supposed to do, I can't do anything in front of all these people!" And in that instant my heart broke for that little boy because I knew right then that he gets beaten at home. He hadn't done anything wrong in the time it took for his mom to completely fly off the handle. He was standing on the seat of the booth but he was blocked in and other than standing he was very quiet and well-behaved. You could hear it in her voice, she wasn't just irritated. If they had been alone at home, she'd have hit him and probably hit him hard.

That little boy doesn't stand a chance. His grandparents never said a word other than to order their food. And we wonder why we can't seem to break the cycle of dropouts, violence, drugs, crime, etc.