Parent flaws vs. strengths: Understanding proper parent

 In our culture, we value pride in parenting. Most parents in this country focus on strengths, and boast about the things they do for their child, as well as how they are blameless and mean well. When is it okay to admit that you are a parent? NEVER, in first-person self-accusatory, except maybe in the realm of protecting children from interlopers who may abuse children...I am a pedophile, squarely put, and the rest of my parent identity speaks for itself. Oops, did I let the cat out of the bag by admitting to being a parent? Jail stripes. Turn the 8 ball. Evil on the top, good trait of one's parent on the bottom. Humility. Shame. I am not a parent, I just exist in relation to children, as a distant adult. I am a pedophile, and that is their reason to hate me. All adults have something to identify by besides the glorified label "parent". 

Let's face it. You are a parent, or at least an adult similarly charged as one. You don't need to remind yourself all the time that you are one, or brandish a glorified title as an excuse for abuse. What is wrong with that word? Ask any child abuse detective or similarly charged law enforcement agent (LEA). "Parent" is the most common of abuser locators. Common abuser statements of the parent are:

• "I am a parent, and I have the right to discipline my child"
• "I am the parent, and she is the student, and so I have the right to correct her with the rod"
• "I am the parent, and I have parental rights over my child until age 18, so let me deal with her and punish her as I please"
  

And I could come up with a million and one others, if I could stomach it. That's why God's Codified Jurisprudence strongly discourages bragging about being a parent, and punishes using the glorified title as an excuse for abuse.

The Greek root word in New Testament repeating the Tenth Commandment, and denoting the concept of entitlement, is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and refers to not only wanting things from a child, but seeking to want to the point of seeking to impose said item on a child. This want, meaning parental entitlement, tends to brag and boast about accomplishment and endeavors. "I am a parent, and I order my child around. I smack that toosh, and I'm certain she'll thank me later". All this parent pride. "I am a parent" is a statement of abusers' pride.

How do you know which parents are the most abusive? The ones who say "I am a parent" or "I am the parent" all the time, which is any parent apart from protecting their child from interlopers. Just say pedophile if you can. No parent says that out in the open, in the parking lot of an apartment complex, then checks out the girls to play the part - and shows their stripes - unless they have nothing to hide. I mean, come on now, many would think that behavior is weird, but at least that weirdness is out in the open for all to see and monitor, and not hidden within a person as a peacekeeper. How will the neighbors, or fellow advocates know I am abusing a child? They'd just know. I might be saying her name all the time under her breath, maybe skipping down the walkway thinking about her while doing it. Those are signs of an abuser in me. If you are her parents, don't allow me into the home, or I might try to follow her around the home and grab her. No, pedophile and not parent, but parent in the sense that I have power over her. If I can say "pedophile" in a clinical pathological tense, that means I am a parent, but an implied parent, meaning I identify by my flaws, not my strengths as a caregiver. I show myself to be a good caregiver to children, not brag about it. 

There's no reason to brag about "parent" in every sentence. Too many parents these days don't get it. We have already sequestered them secretly, without their knowledge. Now, it is simply counting the dead, and marking them for dead alongside the child, and alongside the Lord as well. Let them forever burn in the lake of fire and brimstone, suffering the second death! Innocent until proven guilty, but on the last day, sweep them out. Pro-social avoidance. Pro-social consignment. God is watching, and pedophile and child gaze together. We are flawed, and always so. Child blameless.