Parenting is probably one of the hardest things in the world. Career advancement, retaining a job, raising children, completing homework and enjoying leisure time are the things that are most difficult to achieve in balance. Some of these things will not happen, will be neglected or will not be practiced at all. Additional difficulties arise for single parents, who have to carry the entire burden on their backs.
Melissa Henderson is a single mother of five from Georgia. Melissa left her 14-year-old daughter to care for the babies while she had to go to work, and could not leave the children in day care because he was imprisoned due to a coronavirus pandemic. Surely this was a practice in your family, you must have been left in the care of your older brother or sister at least once. This is a common practice in most households. But because of this seemingly normal everyday act, Melissa was accused of reckless behavior after her 4-year-old son wandered into a neighbor’s house while watching his 14-year-old sister. At that time, the 14-year-old girl was attending online classes, so it was then that the youngest son went out to play without asking his sister. Unfortunately, while the older sister noticed that he had not been gone for 10-15 minutes, and after she found her younger brother at the neighbor, the neighbor had already called the police.
Because of this case, Melissa was called to the scene and interrogated by the police. Two weeks later, unannounced police vehicles arrived at her home. Police arrested Melissa and took her to the station, where she faced charges and a $ 1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
In a police report, the officer wrote that Melissa was accused of causing terrible things to her youngest son after he left their home. This means that the child could have been the victim of kidnapping, a car crash, the bite of a dangerous animal, and so on. They also explain that it was not the first time the child got lost in the care of his older sister and because of that the criminal proceedings against Melissa have been going on for almost two years.
In her defense, Melissa stated that although her daughter was a minor, she had a grade of 4.45, was CRP certified, and had completed a Red Cross childcare program. With that, her daughter is more than qualified to be able to take care of her siblings for a few hours. However, after the unfortunate events, Melissa is afraid to leave her children alone at home. This is normal, because everything she has done is in the service of the role of a single parent that she has to deal with.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Were you cared for by your siblings when you were younger? Do you think that’s okay or do you think it’s wrong? Was Melissa right and a responsible parent or could she have acted differently? Share your thoughts with us!
