Becoming "That" Parent

There are a lot of people in my life who I would not call productive members of society. I shouldn't really say they're in my life, they're just peripherally in my family. Most of the people I'm speaking of became parents at a VERY young age. VERY. I'm not opposed to having children "young", but many of them have been unmarried and have no idea who the baby's father is. Many more of these relatives are neglectful, and I'll go there, inept.

Unfortunately, these same people seem to have babies with no regard. "It's okay, someone else will care for this amazing gift. I don't need to do anything." Why would they think any differently? Sadly, they were raised that way - with no regard for their safety, education, etc.

Seeing these cousins makes me so grateful for my parents and how they raised me. I don't claim to be the best parent in the world. In fact, I would say that I make at least 10 parenting mistakes every day. But, in the past two years, I've come to understand that loving Nathan is the most important thing I can do. All of my other decisions, choices, moves, whatever, will flow from that.

Too, I believe that the best thing I ever did was picking the Targo to be the father of my children. I know I speak (write) ridiculously lovey-dovey, frilly-flowery, volumes about him. But he is really that great.