I was recently perusing the blog of a young Mormon mother I used to attend church with. As always there was a whole lotta "WTF" going on. This mother was blogging about a "special" fireside she had just attended on "chasity" [sic]. Apparently, this fireside had scared her so much that afterwards she, "thought about how I don't want to let my kids out of the house and I how I don't want them to watch TV, use the computer, have cell phones and be isolated from the world." (That is because children are so vulnerable to Satan's influence.) She, herself, had been ever-so vulnerable to Ol' Stan: "But I remember when I was a youth Satan's influences were totally eye catching or tricky or cunning, it was easy for my peers or myself to fall for them." (Yeah, she probably fantasized about making out with a boy or something. Mon dieu!) She then leaves us with this ironic sentiment, "I think the more that you try to live a more Christlike life the more you are aware of the dangers and hazards of life."

Why is that ironic? Because a half hour earlier she had blogged about having to take her daughter to the ER. Get this: she let her toddler run around the house with a toothbrush in her mouth...yeah, you can see where this is going. She actually said she thought there was NO HARM in letting her do this. Well, the rest of us can guess what happened. The little girl fell, with the toothbrush in her mouth. The toothbrush went up into her soft palate. ...But, at the end of the day, good ol' Mom was more concerned about her toddler someday being unchaste.

Ahhh, Mormon priorities.

Yes, Mormons seem to only be paying half attention to their children at times. Their more consuming passion is Mormonism. Also, I was surprised to see the careless mistakes the Mormon parent in Utah made when I lived there with my toddlers. Stuff I'd known for years like - put plug stops in electrical outlets, or know the most common choking hazards for kids or don't let your kid run around the neighborhood alone in just a diaper when he's only 2 (I had a friend that did this all the time - she'd just laugh and sigh about how naughty he was.)

Mormons can be pretty casual about their parenting, their supervision of kids and teaching them manners. But hey, at least they protect them from Stan.

Hope your friend's kid is OK.

Can you somehow post a link to this? I gotta read it for myself.