Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Bad Parenting, Exploitation, Radio, and Annoyance

107.5 The River has been playing calls into their Santa tip line or whatever it is. Parents and children can leave messages about who has been naughty or nice. This morning, a mother was saying over and over how bad her son was, that he doesn't listen to his mom, he was awful and that Santa should not visit him this year. All while I'm assuming said child was screaming in the background.

The second one I remember was a young girl calling in to say she had been good. In the background, her mother said "No you haven't!" The girl responded with "MOM!" and nearly went into tears.

Something that was intended to be funny and amusing exposes the emotional abuse that can and does occur with parenting. I'm sure the conversations went like "If you don't do X, I'm going to call Santa and tell him not to visit you this year." The mother in the first message was obviously distressed and at the end of her rope.

Granted, I'm not parent. I'm not particularly fond of children so say whatever you want about my grandstanding or speaking without knowledge or experience. I don't care.

I know what I heard. What I heard wasn't funny. It was sad, manipulative, hurtful, and angry. And I won't be listening any more.