Wednesday, May 07, 2008

little girl update

I wrote about the "homeless kids" yesterday, so now I'll update you on that little girl whose mom wanted me to watch her. No, they don't have the same mom. The homeless kids' mom actually doesn't work. The other mom claimed she worked too much and that's why she needed me to watch her kids. Except for one time at the grocery store, I never saw that mom again. I see the little girl all the time, but never the mom. That one time I saw her in the grocery store, Rodrigo was with me. He'd never seen her before and I told him who she was. He was shocked and said she looked like a druggie. I don't really think she does, but that would certainly explain a lot.
She never came back to ask anything about me taking care of her daughter again. I had even printed out pages of various ads for sitters for her. She never again took care of her daughter at the bus stop either. The rest of the kids at the bus stop are a little but older. They're about Brianna's age or they're with an older sibling. Even then, the parents are watching like me or walking around, you know just anything we can do to watch the kids without actually crowding their total cool style. All except for the little girl. Even the homeless kids' dad sort of watches them.
It sometimes upsets me that she doesn't watch over her own kid. I feel like she takes it for granted that the rest of us are doing it. The day the kids went back after the holidays, the bus was very late. It turned out that there was a mix-up in the scheduling and one wasn't on it's way over here. I know because I called the school. The rest of the moms were out there too; all except for one. We were all wondering if we would have to drive the kids ourselves and I swear I was just soooo worried about this little girl. I mean I could drop off Brianna with no problem, but what about the little girl? If the bus didn't come one day, where would she go? School is too far for her to talk to. One of us could easily take her but that would mean that she'd be in a strangers car without her mother ever knowing. How scary is that? What if one of us were to drive her and then get into an accident. I totally feel that the mom would be one to sue over something like that.
Another thing I've noticed is that the poor little girl wears the same thing. I first noticed it in the fall because I liked the pants she was wearing. They were khaki with pink and blue flowers. I saw them and thought I'd like some for Brianna. The next day, same pants. Day after that, same pants. So I made it a point to notice if they were the same ones day after day. Maybe she bought her a whole bunch of the same pair of pants. Hopefully. Anyway, she wore the same ones once for about two weeks then wore jeans for a day, then back to the khakis. This spring she's been wearing jeans. Since I'm nosy, I was wondering if she'd wear the same ones again. She does. These have a distinct fading pattern in the back of the legs. She wears those same pants every day with a pink wind breaker. I haven't seen the tops. I was talking to Rodrigo about this today. I told him how I'd be embarrassed if my kids were wearing the same thing day in and day out. I wouldn't if it was all we could afford or if it was a costume that they come home and love to put on (Brianna had a crown she'd wear all the time and Alec had a Batman mask then a Spiderman mask). But if I were driving a super luxury car and my kid was wearing the same clothes to school all the time, again, I'd rethink my priorities. Geesh, especially for a little girl who have just so many adorable outfit choices. I don't remember going to the store without buying something cute for Brianna.
The saddest thing about this whole thing is that I know that this girl is screaming out for attention. Literally. At the bus stop, once more and more kids started moving into the neighborhood and waiting at that same stop, she began to just start screaming. The first time I thought someone was hurt. She just stands there and screams LOUDLY. Then she started pushing the other kids. She started pulling them and jumping on them. One time she jumped on an older boy and knocked him over. He fell on top of her and she just missed hitting her head on the curb. These are the times that make me furious that her mom isn't there. Other moms or I are the ones that have to go tell her to settle down. Why not her mom? Then she started standing in the middle of the street. It got to the point to where she'd wait for a car to get near then jump out in the middle of the street. The drivers had to break suddenly several times. She did that to me one evening. It was nearly dark and she jumped out. I had to break suddenly making the kids jolt and I was shocked to see who it was. What was she doing outside at that time? It made me furious because I might have not seen her and I'd be the one living with guilt while her mom is responsibility-free.
I've seen her playing outside with the homeless kids. I still don't know who is taking care of her afterschool. All I know is it's not me. It breaks my heart to see this girl. It seems like she's raising herself. I wonder how her parents are going to feel if she grows up rebelious? Are they going to want to set rules for her as a teenager when they didn't take care of her as a kid? I'm really sort of hoping they'll move, but for now the little girl situation is the same. Sad.

3 comments:

Jesser said...

That is just sad. Makes me hurt so much for that little girl. My mom was telling me that when she was student teaching there were always these kids she referred to (not to their faces or anything) as "Goober Kids." The ones that just never had it together and obviously didn't get a lot (if anything) from their parents. And she said they were the hard ones to love, but the ones that needed it the most. Not that it's your place, I don't mean that, but she obviously needs some love. How sad she's not getting it. Hopefully there's someone for her.

Anonymous said...

My God what a horribly said story. That poor kid. I am so angry at her parents. They aren't parents. She's just another object for them to collect. They're able to have a kid and they can't even look after her. It is so very upsetting. Perhaps child protection services should be called?

Ani
foodiechickie.com

Nanette said...

Oh, wow. That's awfully sad.