(This one hits home since I work in a school. I know there are parents who simply don’t try to be there for their kids. Yet, I feel like the majority are those who wish they could be there, but can’t for a variety of reasons. I know older generations will say ‘make time’ or ‘you need to try harder’. It’s a different world than even when I was raised. Both parents may need to work more to make ends meet, so the age of the stay-at-home is no longer upon us. There are so many errands and chores that need to get done because everyone is busy during the day. Kids have homework, so they might be too busy. That’s if there isn’t a divorce with custody schedule involved, which can, at best, halve a parent’s time. My point is that there are times where I feel like we built a society where we want people to have kids, but not to spend time raising them. Then, we shame parents when their kids act out and they have no idea what’s going on when the reality is that they are fighting to provide food and shelter for that child.)
How do we raise a child
When we are never there
Slaves to a society of unending need
Forced to toil and exhaust
Sacrificing time as family
Away from our progeny
Who spend most days with strangers
Unaware of the reasons
Only aware of the absence
Growing up without true guidance
From those that love them most
We wonder how so many stray
To the darkness of our world
How would they know any different
When their guides are forced away
Legends of Windemere 
Very heartfelt and poignant. I know many parents who have the struggle of wanting to be there for their kids but having to work. Some depend on the help of grandparents. But some grandparents don’t want the responsibility.
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I’ve noticed that too. Many grandparents online complain about their kids having kids, but not being able to care for them. They tended to be the same ones pushing for grandkids too. There’s not much sense of generational responsibility to family beyond parent to child now.
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Excellent points. After I retired, I tutored a class in middle school with students who had only one parents at home, were poverty stricken, or who had many, many brothers and sisters, or all of these. One of my success stories is a boy who was interested in medicine, single parent (mother) and sisters and brothers. I gave him some books on emergency medicine to read. He is now a CNA!
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That’s awesome.
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I’m very proud of him!
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Wonderful!
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m
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Life is so much more complex than in my day. Your poem expresses the frustration of both parents and children.
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Thanks.
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That so powerful and accurate.
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Thanks.
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Amen!
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👍
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