I’ve written about this topic before, but have found the need to bring it back up. I’m going to be re-discussing those incompetent, stupid breeds of physical matter: parents.

I must reiterate, however, as I have in the past: this is not something that spans across the board. I have great parents; you probably have great parents too. It isn’t even so much about parents as it is the human life as a whole. Whatever the specifics, you get the point.

I had the great pleasure of going to see Shutter Island this weekend with my lovely friends Heather, Rachel, and Jess. It was pretty good…certainly not the best movie I’ve ever seen, and it was a little predictable, but I’d give it an A- for great storyline, great acting, and fantastic directing. I would not give it a high rating for being a kid-friendly movie, however.

Someone clearly disagrees with me there, though. As the four of us got our popcorn, soda, and found our seats, we noticed something that had all of us shocked: a mother walking in with her two kids. Her husband trailed at the end holding some pretzels and Slushies.

Now, before you say anything, Shutter Island was not a horribly scary movie. But it was a suspenseful movie. Certainly nothing for 14-year-olds. The main problem, however, was that these kids were not 14. One must have just turned 7, and the other was so young that he had to be carried in the mother’s arms. That toddler couldn’t have been a day over 2.

I don’t think that video games, violent movies, and violent lyrics really turn people into demons. Instead, I think neglectful parents, like these two were, are what damages today’s youth. I know if I saw a movie like that at the age of 7, I would have nightmares.

Now, there are some who say that kids need to see these types of movies in order to not be sheltered by their parents. Yes and no…certainly, this is a kind of thing that a 14-year-old could see, even though they’re considered too young for it. The ages of 7? And 2!? Let’s not play the sheltered card, shan’t we?These aren’t the only dumb parents out there, though. Popular website BadBreeders.net updates with daily updates of incompetently dumb and neglectful parents.

Nicole Allen, a 20-year-old mother of three (now two) left her two toddlers and one infant home alone to go and buy beer. Within the hour that she was gone, her home caught on fire and the three children were severely burned…one died a day later. Convicted for criminally negligent homicide, she was not given the harsher punishment because she was clearly found to be too terminally stupid to realize that leaving her babies home alone, with a gas burner turned on, posed a threat.

That doesn’t put the pee in your cornflakes? How about Carolyn and Michael Riley of Brockton, Massachusetts? While some families run a garage sale or sell old CDs to make extra money, the Riley’s had a different method of providing for themselves. They pretended that their three children were mentally ill, drugged them to keep them calm and out of their way, and then tried to collect federal disability benefits. Rebecca Riley, their daughter, died in 2006 at the age of four because the Riley’s increased her medications.

Then, there are those numerous stories of parents who refuse to provide their children with medical treatment because of their religious beliefs. I’m all for having your own beliefs…but I’m also all for arresting you if you kill your kids. Not taking your diabetic daughter to the hospital when she needs insulin, not giving your asthmatic son his inhaler when he’s having an asthma attack, and not giving your children the MMR shot when they will become infected a year later are all not only immoral, but illegal. I don’t care if you believe in a god that doesn’t allow this, because humanity does allow it.

It’s truly disgusting how neglectful parents can be. While horrific death rates can be attributed to AIDS, cancer, and diabetes, children are dying at a disgusting rate all for preventable ailments. Having bad parents should be one that is taken off the list.