Tag: responsibility

Responsibility and Entitlement

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized
Take responsibility for your own actions.  I get that no one likes to make a mistake or screw things up but it happens to all of us.  No one is exempt.  The only thing you can do when it happens is take responsibility.
A friend told me today that her ex-husband said he just needed time off from being a parent.  Being a parent is exceedingly stressful and not for the lightweight.  When my kids were little I got an afternoon or day off occasionally.  I was always better for it in the end.  This person though is taking six weeks off.  How is he meeting his responsibilities by behaving this way? 
This is just a symptom of the entitled attitude that so many people have.  People take the attitude that something is owed to them and they should get it whether they have earned it or not.  Here is a news flash.  It isn’t.  You get nothing in life unless you work your butt off for it.  Even when you work your butt off, you sometimes don’t get what you were working for.
In the news I’m hearing about how restrictive the conservatives are being.  Politicians who come out and say that women shouldn’t have the vote; laws against teens holding hands in public; and other nonsensical laws, rules, and news stories.  All of these types of news stories are ruses to misdirect our attention from the real problem.
I recently listened to a man (yup a man) talk about contraceptive services and also about the problems facing our country.  I don’t know how Bernie Sanders (Independent from Vermont) has voted or what he is about.  However here are two youtube videos that are worth watching and worth sharing.
It isn’t that I think we should be giving away things to people.  I do think we should hold responsible the people who caused the problems with our economy.  Certainly the elderly, sick, poor, and unemployed didn’t cause the problem.  Our public employees didn’t cause the problems.  The republicans (George W Bush mostly), oil companies, wall street, and the very rich who aren’t paying taxes are the ones who’ve caused our economy to fail.  Their failures and faults are the ones who need to step up and say okay we screwed up.  Now let’s fix it. 

Teen Pregnancy

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized

As I’ve said in the past, I watch Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant.  For some reason these shows fascinate me.  I watch as these girls take on the tough role of parenting.  I was 17 when I got pregnant.  I was very lucky in that I had a loving family who were strong enough to make me stand on my own and a man in my life who stuck with me.

I watch these girls and I think – toughen the F&*! up.  Okay I know that they are in a difficult situation.  It is hard to be a parent.  It is hard to be in charge of someone else when you haven’t been in charge of yourself really. 

I watch as these girls put up with behavior from boys which is unacceptable at any time but is even more unacceptable when they are soon to be fathers. 

When did we stop giving our kids responsibility?  When did we move from work to get what you want to gimme gimme gimme because I’m entitled? 

Some of the girls are really stepping up.  They appear to be amazing moms.  They seem to be getting their lives together, going to school, getting a job and being stressed out just like the rest of the working parents in the world.  I applaud those girls.  They grew up and faced their responsibilities. 

Other girls – I just wonder where their brains are?  One girl on Teen Mom 2 informed her ex boyfriend (who she is living in his parents house with him but in a separate bedroom) that she was seeing someone by posting it on Facebook.  Come on – really?  Are you that stupid?  The adult thing would have been to go to the parents who have treated her like a daughter and said.  Listen – your son broke up with me and I’m starting to date.  I am interested in someone else because I’m trying to move forward.  I won’t bring him around the house but I would like to date him without being dishonest.  That would have been the adult thing to do… not post the damn thing on Facebook. 

Another girl has taken back a boy who was exceedingly disrespectful to her and their daughter in a text (called his kid a mistake and worse).  Yet she lets him not only back into her life but back into her heart.  Really?  Where is your self-respect?  Earn it buddy – you want to be a dad now then PROVE you are worthy of being a dad.

Teen pregnancy is a huge issue and one our society tries to brush aside.  If we really don’t want to have these teenagers pregnant then we need to get our heads out of our asses and accept that teenagers have sex.  Most of them have sex early – 14, 15 or so… Instead of saying be good and don’t do this, we should be saying – we know you are thinking about it and it is a natural part of growing up but here are things you need to be aware of – then talk to them openly about sex, disease, pregnancy, and contraceptives. 

We expect these kids to grow up and be parents – well then we have to give them the tools to do that  or better yet let’s give them the tools so they don’t have to be in the first place… an ounce of prevention… etc