Posted on 09/19/2024 8:17:33 PM PDT by Morgana
CNN —
In some corners of society, there appears to be a shift in the way people talk about kids.
Every so often, a provocative social media post sets off predictably polarizing discourse about the presence of children in daily life. There was the woman who snarkily suggested that toddlers should be leashed. There was the guy who proudly posed outside of an establishment that declared itself “dog friendly” and “child free,” and the person who defended him by proclaiming that it was “fine and normal to dislike children.”
In certain online communities, people sometimes express these attitudes even more jarringly, using terms such as “crotch goblins” for kids and “breeders” for parents.
These attitudes show up offline, too. The issue of crying babies on planes is a frequent source of conflict, with some passengers glaring, yelling or more recently, locking the offending child in the lavatory to admonish them. And as people who seek to avoid loud or unruly children make known their preferences for childfree restaurants, grocery stores and flights, more businesses are catering to them.
The implication (joking or otherwise) is that children are a nuisance and adults shouldn’t have to endure them if they don’t want to.
The brazenness with which people express this attitude, even if it’s more a meme than anything else, has an effect on parents. Some parents (almost always mothers) are so attuned to the possibility that their child might inconvenience others that they constantly apologize for normal kid behavior. Others pass out ear plugs and candy on flights.
Mariah Maddox, a freelance writer based in Ohio, has yet to fly with her 3-year-old because she can’t predict how he’ll react and doesn’t want to experience judgment from fellow passengers.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I hardly go anywhere public partly because of out of control kids.
“My mother made me HELP HER kick my ass. ‘Go get the wooden spoon.’”
In our house, it was “the fiddle”. “Go get the fiddle”. It was an old door knocker shaped like a violin made of HARD wood; it never broke. 😒 (I wonder where that thing is now.)
“At least twice a day I catch myself saying ‘I’m SOglad I don’t have kids’”
👍
Strange thing, my kids never were a problem when they were younger, Eating out, my son at 3 or 4 was so notably polite, our Italian waiter complimented him and my wife and I on how polite he was mentioning it was nice to see children with good manners for a change.
We took a cruise package to Alaska, multiple times we were told how nice it was to see such well behaved children, they were 8 and 6 at the time.
The wife and I correct them, sometimes theres yelling, but overall they are and have been well behaved kiddos.
“The issue of crying babies on planes is a frequent source of conflict...”
Not just crying babies. Parents allowing children to absolutely irritate other passengers without correcting them. I had a small child kicking the back of my seat on a flight. I asked the mother to have the kid stop kicking.
She just smiles, so he kept kicking it. I asked a second time, and she said “he’s just getting rid of energy, he’ll stop.” He continued again, so I got on my knees leaning over the top of my seat and screamed at the little kid - “ I TOLD YOU TO STOP F****G KICKING MY SEAT!”. Mom was shocked, kid was bawling, and the stewardess and passengers were giving me an attaboy...well deserved. I told the mom that is she couldn’t control the kid, then maybe they shouldn’t be flying.
not every space is for children. If I want to go out to an adult only restaurant that should be okay.
When you see a poorly behaved child, look no further than the parents for the cause.
+1
Regarding kids in restaurants, whenever we went out to dinner with the kids, they were given a card with several topics that they were to use to do a restaurant review. They could take notes on the card. Reviewed were ambiance, service, timeliness, food selection and cuisine. When we got home, they would give the family an oral presentation on our evening. It was fun.
Oh, we home schooled for 13 years.
What a great idea. Keeps them busy while waiting for their food.
I always appreciated the restaurants with those placemats for kids that they could color on and the restaurant would provide crayons.
The same kind of concept works for kids while flying. Give them something to do. My kids were voracious readers to taking a book helped.
I agree.
There are plenty of restaurants to take kids to that aren’t high end, fine dining.
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