My Major

My major is psychology. I would like to specialize in child psychology and work with abused and neglected children. I always knew I wanted to work with kids but what made me decide to pursue  this career was one day out shopping, I came across a little boy who had to be younger than my daughter at the time, which was around 2, walking by himself. At first, I didn't hear or see anyone looking for him. When I was about to ask him if he needed help, I heard a lady scream "GET BACK HERE!" I knew it must have been directed toward the little boy. She found him so I walked away. Later in the store I ran into this mother again. Her little boy was not with her. Come to find out, my "mother-in-law" was with him trying to help him find his mother. It bothered me that this mother let her child run off around a store like that at such a young age while she continued to stand there and look at clothes. Maybe I'm a little overprotective, but I don't let Madison out of my sight when we're out shopping, too many bad things can happen in the minute you look away. Anyways, the little boy was brought back to his mother. Because he ran off again, she went on to scream at him in the store calling him terrible names that would be too inappropriate to repeat on here. Every time he tried to speak or started to cry she told him to shut up. I'm not one to judge, each parent has their own parenting styles, but I think calling your two year old an a**hole in public was wrong and my first thought was if this is how he is treated in public, how is he treated at home? A lot of customers in the store at the time stopped and looked around because the mother was causing a major scene. Finally someone stood up to her and told her talking to her small child like that was unacceptable. I just felt so bad for the little boy. He looked so scared and sad. It made me so sad to think of all the innocent children out there that are abused, neglected and abandoned by the ones that are supposed to love and protect them the most, their parents. Another reason is because my mom works at a foster care agency. She tells me the stories of some of the horrible things that have been done to these children and how they need help. I've been asked many times why I would want to do a job like this that would be so heartbreaking. My answer is I want to be someone who can make a difference in these kids lives one way or another. I want to help them. I'm not sure where this job will lead me. I hope to stay local because all of our family is near here. I don't know where I'll be in the next 10 years but getting there will be exciting!