Discipline
Just got back from lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and have an experience I need to share. There was a group of women at a front center table there, along with a bunch of kids. They were close to finishing their meals, I believe, when I got there. While I was eating, most of the kids -- five of them, ranging in ages, I'd say, between 2 and 7 -- got up and proceeded to run around the front part of the restaurant (where there are no tables, near the entrance), yelling, climbing on the couch there, etc. The 2-year-old was even crawling around on the floor. Maybe as a non-parent, it's easy for me to judge harshly, but this is really unacceptable behavior to me. I wouldn't let my kid (if I had one) crawl around on a restaurant floor, for one. The parents -- that's what I assume them to be -- made no attempt to stop any of this behavior and, in fact, didn't really seem to notice it. Lots of times I've encountered parents who are seemingly oblivious to their children's behavior in public places, and it always annoys me. Do you become that used to the noise and chaos that you no longer even notice it? How about having some consideration for the other people around you? Am I wrong here?
posted by Kootch | 1:30 PM
2 Comments:
No, you're not wrong. It amazes me how much kids are getting away with these days, right in front of their parents. I do think that parenting has become too lax ... and just imagine what kinds of adults these kids will grow to become.
On the other hand, as a parent, you do pick your battles. My wife and I are FIRM in not allowing our kids to be on a floor in a restaurant, and yet they CONSTANTLY will slide down booth seats to be on the floor. Why the hell do kids do stuff like that?!
And if a day has been particularly hard with the kids disobeying, I might settle for a controlled disobeying where I can make sure that there isn't any damage being done.
But parents having casual conversation while kids are running rampant irks me. While the kids can be annoying, it is definitely the parents who are at "fault."
Yeah, I certainly don't blame the kids (the ones in this situation were perhaps too young to "know better" especially if they hadn't been taught -- as they obviously hadn't.
As a teacher, I've encountered relatively few serious discipline problems, but when I have and then met with the parents, the source of that problem usually becomes glaringly obvious. Often the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as the cliche says.
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