On the subject of "parenting"

[christopher575]

This is from my notebooks that I'm typing up.

Watching the way children and their handlers interact lately is kind of like watching a car accident. The backlash against child abuse has unfortunately removed all forms of discipline. Parents now seem to want to do just about anything except the only two things they're really supposed to: raise their children and prevent their children from burdening and annoying everybody. Saying "no" is always the last resort, and following it up with any action at all is, well, nothing, since there isn't a resort after that last one.

So now Mom and Dad have taken to bargaining with Tyler and Tiffany. They say "please stop that" when they should be saying "the kitty will die if you don't stop" or, really, just "no." The word "no" coming from a parent should get a child to stop whatever he is doing immediately, because if it doesn't, the consequences can be rather significant. Case in point: a toddler runs from his mom, as they are wont to do. (This is why those kid leashes make so much sense. A toddler, after all, is actually less self-reliant than a dog.)

"Tyler, please come back. Tyler. Tyler, please. I'm going to count to ten if you don't come back. I mean it, Tyler. I'm really going to count to ten. Ok, I'm about to start counting to ten. I really mean it. Ok. One, two, three, please, Tyler. Please? Four, five, six, seven, eight. Tyler, please. Please don't make me count all the way to ten. Ok, Tyler, here it comes. Nine. Nine and a half. Nine and three quarters."

Parents never get to ten because they wouldn't even know what to do once they did.

In the meantime, little Tyler has made his way to the shiny object that caught his attention. Unfortunately, it's a reflector embedded in the intersection. Try as he may, he cannot pull it free; they are designed to be driven over.

Mom is lucky for one thing; she didn't have to worry about finally reaching ten, because she was interrupted by screeching tires, shattering glass, and twisting metal. If anyone screamed, she never heard it, because the moment Tyler learned to scream in public, she learned to ignore it.

The car that swerved to miss Tyler killed a pedestrian before hitting another car. All the passengers in both cars were killed. Tyler emerged unscathed but ever since then he cries even more than he used to. Mom is suing the surviving family members of the drivers and pedestrian for the emotional distress she thinks they caused her son.

He's actually just crying because the road reflector is the first thing he ever wanted that he didn't get.

Comments

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

My ex-boss Lisa used to say "God forbid a child ever experience disappointment!"
Spend a Saturday in my store and you'll have a whole book full of wisdom to impart.

[cattycritic.livejournal.com]

I can't even imagine what you must go through on a summer Saturday. You must have the patience of a saint.

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

He has some pills that also help out.

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Ha ha...you beat me to the punch.

Down With Weenie Parents

[cattycritic.livejournal.com]

There are a few sad ironies here. I would never raise my own kids like that, but I don't have any. I certainly was never raised like that - my parents wouldn't put up with screaming, tearing around, breaking stuff and generally being annoying or rude. I would also bet that weenie parents themselves were not raised that way, either; their parents probably smacked their butts when they needed to, and raised their voices on occasion. Also, failure to discipline borders on neglect, which is a form of abuse. I want to ask them, "who's in charge, you, or your child???"

On occasion I've "parented" random kids for acting obnoxious, telling them how to act - when you show them how to behave properly and they see that it works (for example, saying "excuse me" when you need to get by someone instead of whining), they will just do it.

I think children deep down want their parents to set limits; I can only guess it's that it makes them feel safe and protected, that their parents care, and that somebody knows what they're doing. I think that confidence helps kids build their own confidence, while weenie parents just make kids neurotic.
</lecture>

[theropod.livejournal.com]

"Tyler" is so 80s. The thing to do now is name your kid something followed by the suffix "-ayden".

[cmorley.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it's the stigma against child abuse so much as this "it's all about me!" attitude going around. It's cool to be a brat, and parents can't seem to say no. They actually act surprised when the kids act up.

Of course, I know I was raised very differently from others, so that might just be me.

[filarabit.livejournal.com]

I blame it all on the California Safety police. They are ruining the world...