Caring for someone else's child

is an even greater responsibility than caring for you own, yes? 

I do not have children of my own but I did have the long term responsibility for one - the Whirlwind. There were times when I felt very anxious about it and yet she was an abnormally well-behaved child who was not prone to do silly or naughty things. (No, she was no perfect but she was a "good" child.) Still, there were times when she wanted to do things that had me holding my breath and hoping she wouldn't fall off or fall over. I was always anxious about her cutting or burning herself in the kitchen or taking her toes off with the axe if she decided they needed more kindling for their barbecue. When she could ride a bike there was the new worry of hoping she would be oh so careful on the road. It seemed there was always something to be "just a bit anxious" about. 

But I also loved doing it. I miss doing it. I will probably always miss doing it. She was my responsibility and she returned that responsibility by being responsible - and full of love. Still it was a bigger responsibility for me than it was for her father because she was his child, not my child. I had a responsibility towards him as well as her.

The Senior Cat would sometimes go over to the school his grandsons attended. He would then bring the boys here and they would do their homework and perhaps do some "work" with him in the shed. He worried about them using hammers, nails, screw drivers, any sort of cutting device. Their mother, Middle Cat, would sigh and tell him not to be a "worry wart" but, love it though he did, he used to say, "But it is a bigger responsibility now than it was when you were that age." He was right.

There are four teenagers missing at the moment. They are "exchange students" - here to go to school from another country, an Asian one. Their host families are frantic with worry. The police are not telling us much. They are trying to say, "they have just gone off" and "we'll find them". Perhaps they have just gone off and they will be found. I hope so but I also know that their host families will be feeling the way I felt, the way the Senior Cat felt. My parents would never allow any of us to try for one of the Rotary exchange scholarships. I almost certainly would not have got one anyway but my brother and Middle Cat might well have done. No, we couldn't because our parents said it was too great a responsibility to ask of any other parents. 

I can understand that now. My parents were teachers. As teachers they were "in loco parentis" at school - and sometimes beyond that. Caring for someone else's child is a responsibility. I hope they find those teenagers and that they are safe. I also hope that, if they have "just gone off", those teens will learn about the responsibility of caring for someone else's child.