The Co comment parenting challenge continues and today if you comment, you can still win cash prizes (we’ll be announcing winners by the end of the month) so get ready to read my latest post and comment if you can relate!
Funny how when you’re not with your kids, you become completely attune to the way other parents interact with their own children. And then you start to wonder…do I do that too? While we spent a few days away from our daughter and son, we’ve managed to eat in restaurants with screaming kids, we had pancakes next to a quartet of the rudest girls I’ve ever seen, and we noticed one woman in a book store who seemed to have a permanent frown on her face as she hissed at her daughter for being nasty to her.
Of course, since we were sans kids, we were able to pass judgement easily – why don’t those people tell their kids to stop throwing goldfish at the seagulls so that the beach isn’t overrun with dirty birds? Why won’t that woman take her wailing child out of this restaurant so that we all don’t have to hear her complain about not getting to play with the ketchup? Why would four of the rudest girls I’ve ever seen give a waitress such a hard time about ordering in a timely fashion and then leave in a huff because she politely asked them to clear out if all they were doing was taking up table space? And why would a mom tell her tween daughter to “Keep her attitude in check” when the pair were in a bookstore and the child couldn’t decide what beach read to buy?
Honestly, nowadays it feels like parents (yes myself included) are in desperate need of discipline lessons or an intervention from the Supernanny. As I mentally took note of kids misbehaving at every age level, what got me really concerned was that if a child acts out of turn their entire life, they can grow up to be a nasty adult who wears oversized glasses, carries a $500 purse and a look that says, “Don’t stare at me or I’ll say something very nasty to you.”
The one thing I did take away from our respite away from our kids was that no matter what, I do not want them to grow up rude. And that means, we need to be on hand to discipline them when they’re out of line – but not be completely nasty so that they mimic our rude behavior – and commend and maybe even reward them when they’ve played by the rules. I’m no parenting expert but all I can say is I’ve seen way too many kids this weekend, who were downright mean and disrespectful. When we drove back to my parents house to pick up my well-behaved children (joke), my time away made me realize that it’s never too late to make our kids aware that it’s time to keep that bad behavior under wraps, otherwise, one day down the road, they may get kicked out of a pancake house for having a bad attitude.
Have you had a run-in with rude kids and even ruder parents? Or do you have advice on how to deal with nasty children. Comment now and share your story
