Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Something to Believe In

I believe firmly in not allowing children to squeeze repeatedly, for minutes at a time, on their new bike horn while they wait in line at a busy checkout.

What, for that matter, ever happened to good, ol' fashioned discipline?

I know my parents used it on me, and I turned out just fine.



*twitch, twitch*

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is it about becoming a parent that makes you go selectively deaf?
"What? My kids are running around screaming at the top of their lungs? I don't hear anything."

Me, I would have gotten an elbow in the side or a Significant Look after one honk, assuming I was even THAT bold in public.

I am fine! My therapist says so!
~BPP

michele said...

I wonder about this one all the time. I know my parents would never have allowed me to make any kind of scene in a public place, and I too turned out pretty good.

I can understand when children are young and upset, and there's nothing you can do to calm them. But I am really only understanding if the parents continue to make efforts to calm them while simultaneously try to get out of the store as fast as possible.

I've always considered it my job as a parent to teach my children how to behave in public, and if that means we have to leave a public space when they're misbehaving, then we have to do it, regardless of how much it might inconvenience me. Everytime I see of children who are allowed to make other people's lives unpleasant by acting up in public, I wonder what they will be like as adults.

I've left banks, venues where I've paid money to get in, and even had to wheel my grocery cart over the the customer service, apologize, and ask them if they can return the things to their shelves because I have a child who just cannot deal with being in the store at that moment and I have to leave before she annoys every other patron of the store.

The way I see it, the inconvenience of disrupting your own plans, shopping or otherwise, is just the price you pay for deciding to have children because it's your job to teach them how to interact in social or public spaces. Doesn't make it easy. Not in the least! But nobody ever said having kids was easy.

XOXO said...

Don't worry. They'll probably be back in a checkout line in a month to buy another new bike because they were irresponsible with this one.

Pamela said...

met the hubby for lunch the other day and "enjoyed" a naughty little boy in the booth behind us ... and wondered why his mom let him be the boss.

sad.