Mother Facing Charges of Trying to Get her Children to Kill their Grandparents

Scary headline, I thought. Yes, I did have a sign when my kids were younger that stated, Now I Know Why Ferrets Eat their Young, but it was a joke despite it sounding rather like back handed humor. After my grandchildren came along I got a new sign that said, Grandchildren Are God’s Reward for Not Killing Your Kids, a sentiment that implies how sweet it is enjoy a pleasant relationship with your grandchildren, while deriving a secret sense of satisfaction knowing their parents (those kids of yours referred to in the two previous sayings) are facing the less than all the time rosy dispositions of those same children, your grandkids. I’m thinking about that what goes around comes back around kind of thing that I remember my own mother wishing upon me too.

But back to the headline that was a twisted opposite of my silly signs. I read more of the article online and found out that a Lakeland, FL mother was in a Pitt County, N.C., courtroom to face charges of trying to get her children to kill their grandparents. The mother sent her 7 and 9 year old kids a knife (by mail) with which to do the deed. The mother lost custody of the kids in 2007 due to a history of drug offenses and the grandparents have permanent custody of the children. Reading about this was disheartening. I thought about all the compromises the grandparents must have made in order to commit to raising their granddaughters, and then something like this happened. I guess a knife in the mail beats a knife in the back but the level of hate involved in this scheme is pretty frightening. The children’s stability and security must have been shaken and the grandparents' too, not to mention the mother’s intentional attempt at skewing the children’s sense of right and wrong. The children’s father wasn't mentioned.

And I found it tough to come up with a good quote to end this on. But here goes…  

Grandchildren give us a second chance to do things better because they bring out the best in us.            ~author unknown

In this case it seems like there is a possibility for second chances (especially for the grandkids). I hope everyone finds a way to make the best of it.