Thread by @imaracingmom

Don't roll your eyes at me! Yes, this is another thread!
We in the THR world are confronted with the message everyday about the need to "save the children". For years, I've said to save our kids (from all kinds of bad things), we need to stop passing stupid laws and address...

... the elephant in the room. #WHY??? Sure, some kids just do stuff. They experiment, they rebel, they give in to peer pressure. But what about the rest of the kids? The ones who are so much more than "just a risk taker"? The invisible kids? The ones we pretend we can't see???

Kids who struggle with #MentalHealth issues. Kids who have the shit beat out of them by their loved ones. Kids growing up in poverty. The hungry kids. The kids without medical care. The kids struggling in school. The kids who are bullied constantly. The kids without friends.

The kids living with people battling addiction. The kids with a parent in jail or prison. The kids "stuck in the system" that are in and out of foster care of the juvie center. The kids who lost a parent or a friend suddenly. The kids who know pain more than they know happiness.

ACE - Adverse Childhood Experiences. We should be ashamed of ourselves for the numbers of children experiencing trauma. Doubly ashamed because we suck at helping those kids deal with what they're dealing with. We stigmatize these kids and we stigmatize their families.

We don't like kids drinking, smoking, doing drugs, having sex and all the other things they do that might bring them harm. Society is a lazy bunch who find it easier to pass laws saying they can't do those things, or ban adults from them so kids can't do them.

Why does any child feel the need to put shit in their bodies to feel better? Why aren't we doing something about that? Why are children in need of mental health services not getting any? Why are kids going to bed hungry? Why are kids quitting school to help support their family?

Why are kids getting physically, emotionally, and sexually abused? Why don't they get help dealing with it when it happens? Why aren't we helping families break the generational cycles of dysfunction? Where are the helpers?

The life some children live is horrendous.
Why don't we care?
Band-Aids are for scratches, not puncture wounds.
Laws don't solve problems. People do.
Prohibition is nothing more than pretending you give a shit when the truth is you can't be bothered to help make things better.

Signed,
One of "those" kids.

Timing? Small World? Look what @MarcGunther put out. It explains what I was trying to say so much better than this rant of a thread.

I'm really pissed off society doesn't do a better job of "think of the children".

https://twitter.com/MarcGunther/status/1417165676209389571