Psalm 127:3-5 — Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

What’s going on with our kids? Actually, that’s not my question. My question is “What’s going on with how people are dealing with their kids?”
I keep seeing on TV, or reading about, tragic stories: “Death of Connecticut child left in hot car ruled a homicide”, “Child neglect accounts for 75% of reported abuse cases”, “New Mexico man fractured infant’s skull, pummeled mother during motel spat: cops”. … On and on it goes…
I did not have an especially protected upbringing. But I can’t remember things being like that when I was growing up.
It’s not just the overt cruelty that bothers me though. It’s the whole change in attitude to children that upsets me — maybe even frightens me. I love what the Psalmist says about children being a blessing, the future of the family, speeding like arrows to the target of God’s glory. Of course it’s more than that … Solomon tells us that children are a responsibility, too. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). So what’s the “modern” attitude?
Here’s something else I read recently:

On one level, I can see how Shona Carter-Brooks got it twisted.
Carter-Brooks is the Tennessee bride who decided that the “something new” to include in her wedding-day wardrobe would be her 1-month-old daughter. So she fastened the infant in the folds of her bridal gown as if she was adding a tulle bow or a taffeta sash, and dragged her down the aisle.
She also preserved the moment on Facebook, where it went viral and where she wound up being vilified for possibly endangering her child and ridiculed for her tacky taste. Carter-Brooks’ pathetic defense to the overwhelming criticism was a barely literate post about the baby being “covered by Christ,” and about God being on their side.

It’s not a “one off”. Increasingly children are being seen as, at best, “fashion accessories” or, at worst, an annoying inconvenience. Oh I know it’s not universal. I know there are people reading this for whom children are a gift, a blessing and a message to the future. But I know, too, that there are more and more of the other kind. I see so many people start as accessories, then become and inconvenience, and end up being occasional visitors …
So I guess my question isn’t even “What’s going on with how people are dealing with their kids?”. The question is “How do we fix what’s going on with how people are dealing with their kids?”. Any ideas?