Horrifying Experience

So today I had an experience that is still bothering me long afterwards. I have to preface this by saying that I am in no way a perfect parent. I fail daily, but what I heard today from one parent left me heartsick and quite frankly horrified. I won't tell you under what circumstances I met this parent, but during the course of the conversation the parent admitted that they let their child smoke at home and in the car even though the child is underage. As a matter of fact, there were smoking rules for this child. The parent said that since everyone in the childs life smoked, there wasn't any point in trying to prevent the child from following their example. Here's an idea - quit smoking and be a positive example for your child. The parent also spoke about how she was being evicted from her apartment and was having trouble renting a trailer at the local trailer park. I felt terrible for that child. To have to grow up like that is an awful childhood. And whatsmore, I think the child will live the same sort of life as the parent, which makes me nauseous. There's a school in D.C. where low income boarding school where they are only at home for the weekends. This experince makes me think how wonderful something like that would be in our area so that students can be exposed to positive role models so that we can break this cycle of poverty. If I ever win the lottery or if Dave Ramsey ever makes me a billionaire, I know what I'm going to do with all the money.