Gaelic Girl Alisa

Since having been here in Ireland I have seen more fathers actually spending time with their children than I have for many years in the States.

Having worked in the children’s department of a US chain bookstore (much like Eason’s here) I have had the displeasure of watching men and mothers alike ignore, neglect, talk-down-to, and disrespect the humanity of their own children in public more than I ever would have expected or cared to in a lifetime.

Being an employee, there was little I could do to intervene and it always filled me with contempt and bitterness for these precious little ones. Fathers would often leave their children alone in the children’s department to be “babysat” while they went and looked at the “grown-up books”, which often turned out to be VERY grown-up. Fathers on duty for the day would ignore the speech of their children and become exasperated when expected to play their part as a nurturer in the family unit.