PSA to always release prey animals back into the wild in a bush or a tree depending on their normal habitat. They hang out in covered areas for a reason.
I once found a wounded pidgeon on my balcony, I guess it flew against the window. I nurtured it back to health. Over a period of a month or so, I kept it in a cage and hand fed it, but eventually it grew restless and it was time to let it go. As soon as I opened the cage, that horny bastard flew into the nearest tree, jumped on another pidgeon and made the tree shake.
The indifference of the parent just staring at their phone in the first panel really hits home. Sure they could be recording the event but the expression says otherwise.
I’m a school bus driver and it’s genuinely depressing how often I see a parent waiting with their kid for the bus, face down in their phone instead of paying the slightest bit of attention to their child. I also find it depressing to see a person walking their dog while looking at their phone - not sure dogs actually give a shit but somehow they manage to look sad and neglected anyway in these situations.
Talking from the other side, it’s far harder than you think. Children can be incessant. They seem to be energy vampires. They suck the energy out of their parents, then funnel it right back, in the form of questions, chatter or desire for amusement. Maintaining the correct mindset is absolutely exhausting.
One of the hardest things is balancing being a “parent” with being “you”. If you try and just be a parent, you will burn out, and be a REALLY shitty parent. You need the balance between the two.
I don’t begrudge parents grabbing a few minutes of “me” time, when they can. Unfortunately, some don’t (or can’t) properly plan it into their lives. They then burn out and just grab whatever they can. This leads to the sort of behaviour you mentioned.
I like the way you explained not all the people on the phone are shitty parents! I think it’s a very nice and positive way of thinking about people. Just for the sake of balance I would like to add that shitty parents do exist, unfortunately. But I agree not all people that seem shitty at first glance are!
Agreed shitty parents exist. Some are just shitty, others are shitty because they’ve burnt themselves out.
I’ve definitely been the parent on the phone at the park, only because she’s finally playing, without wanting to include mummy and daddy in everything! Someone walking by would see a shitty parent. In fact, it’s a parent taking the short time they are engaged in independent play to recharge enough to be positively engaged for the rest of the evening.
The trick is to have the things obstruct the door, so you’re forced to become consciously aware of them as you leave. Nothing short of that (or a spreadsheet for packing if you’re going overnight) works for me.
I bring a satchel with me when I leave the house. I leave it in the car 99% of the time, but it has my sunglasses, sanitizer, umbrella, etc. in it. So, it’s helpful to bring along. I toss my keys in it and whatever the important thing is. If the important this is too big, I wrap the strap of the satchel around the thing or wind the strap around some part of it. I still forget things sometimes, but this has helped me significantly.
There was a meme I saw on Lemmy a while back that said undiagnosed ADHD is like having life set to hard mode but you and everybody else think you’re set to easy mode.
Getting a diagnosis and/or treatment doesn’t change the fact that you’re on hard mode, but at least you know what you need to tackle.
I always put my keys on anything I need to remember, since they’re the last thing I grab before I head out, and I can’t lock the door or start the car without them. If it’s more of a concept, I write it on a post-it, then put the keys on that.
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