So I ran a booth at a health fair yesterday and my feet and back have still not recovered. Also I got the happy happy joy joy fun of watching tons of parents let their kids run wild, attempt to steal the raffle prizes off of my table, beg for handfuls of candy from my bowl, ect ect ect. Ok I understand that it's hard to keep track of your kids at a fair. Sure some are going to try and get away with what they can. But when "mom" is crusing the tables loading her arms with all the free giveaway stuff and not paying attention to her kids at all they are going to learn that behaviour.

A little background for the fair. It was a community health fair for single and disadvataged mothers primarily. We had a lot of educational things for the moms for good prenatal care, help to get housing and alphahouse, the local mother and child shelter, was the main sponcer. They help drug addicted mothers and mothers to be get off of the streets. This is great, helping them to get on their feet again and for the women who really take advantage of what alpha house has to offer, it is a system that works. Unfortunatly there are those who exploit it. Use all the vendors there, that are giving away things to help, and trying to give both the ladies and the kids a good time, are feeling the brunt of it. I felt ,although happy that I was able to do some good there, like I was being royally screwed by about 50% of the women there. They didn;t care about helping themselves or their children. It seemed to me like they were there to get as much free shit as they could, and in doing so teaching their kids to just be out for what they could get as well. With no regard for who was offering the help and without so much as a simple thankyou. I really don't think it's too much to ask, if not for that curtesy, then for maybe just some common decency to the organizations that are getting together to help people through a tough time!

More than anything it's the learned behaviour that these kids are picking up. The greed, the disrepect, the blatent disregard for anything but what they want at that moment. It's a cycle that will almost ensure that a good portion of these kids will end up in the same situation we are so despretly trying to help their mothers out of. I want to cry!

Now don't think me harsh making these generalizations. 4 years ago before I came to florida, I was with my husband who was a crack addict. we lost our house, our cars, everything and were living in a shelter. I took wjat they offered and managed to get a decent job and an apartment. I was supporting myself, my husband and my son. My husband unfortunatly, did not take the wonderful help they were offering and try to better himself and our situation. Instead while I was working he would take my son out of school and bring him to parkinglots to beg for money. I found this out and we fled to florida. I had no money, little education, and no local work references. Using what my family was able to help me with and a lot of the survival tools I learned from the shelter I managed to get a series of wonderful jobs, go back to school and find healthy relationships. Now I have a great career, a wonderful house and am surrounded by people who care abiout me and my son. I looked at the people that had been in my life, and their children and simply thought I DO NOT want my son to do this!!!! I had to fake it for him until my life became as good as I could want it to be. I saved my self, and hopefully I saved my son. So when I see these women just letting the world rush over them, and watch them grab what they can, and never try. When I see these kids follow everything their parents do I get pissed. Because I know that things can get better. I know it's hard. I know you will lie awake at night full of stress and tears, but I also know that it's worth it!