Parents who need to be de-parented #1

Lately, I've had way too many conversations about incompetent parents, and as a youth leader (and a somewhat competent parent, I think) these stories can start to chip away at my confidence for the coming generation of kids.

This story I came across (HT to Idolator) is a prime example. I'm guessing the mother prodded her 6-year old daughter to write the fabricated story to get the Hannah Montana tickets, but you never know. No matter if the daughter or mother came up with it, the mother still showed a huge amount of incompetence by confirming the lie that her husband had died in Iraq. Disgusting. Please revoke her parenting card. Please, please, please...

We do live in a broken world so this stuff is expected, but this does tempt me to lose hope in our children. I thank God that He never loses hope in people (and that goes for myself, too). Sometimes, my only encouragement to myself as I deal with teens is that you never know what's going on inside their heads and hearts and that it is possible to overcome the blunders our parents have made.

As I come across similar stories, I'll keep the series of "Parents who need to be de-parented" going. I am hoping I'll run out of fodder, but I'm not holding my breath.