We have a couple of feral kids in the village.
One is a classmate of my eldest – 12 yrs old.
He’s a polite and bright kid and over winter he became a semi permanent feature.
Regular for evening meals and breakfast at weekends.
Parents split, mum still very young in age and attitude.
New boyfriend more interesting than the kid so hoofed out a dawn and returns sometime after sundown.
We have taken him all over with us on day trips etc.
All this has been with his mums agreement.
However, summer comes and I will not let my 2 go feral round the place.
So, the young lad starts to hang around with a couple of ne’er do wells.
The visits start to fall off and he has been totally absent since our family holiday.
Spotted him throwing stones at cars on the main road with the other two little scroates.
He waved to me with a big smile and a cheery hello.
Makes me furious and depressed knowing exactly how he is going to end up.
I cannot think of a solution to bad parenting, it has plagued me for months.
A friend offered me some sage advice – “if you constantly think you are not doing it right, you may stand a chance of making it work. If you believe you are a perfect parent you may be in for a shock”