Brats! Why Are So Many Parents Afraid To Say "No?"

LA Times, via Memphis Flyer ^ | July 30, 2004 | Martin Booe

[Quix]

AMEN!

[R. Scott]

This may be mean, but I once told a snotty kid in a restaurant that if he didn't sit down and shut up, I was going to go beat his father up.

I had an incident at a Wal-Mart some time ago. As I was entering a man stood near the door holding his son. The son looked right at me and spit. The guy laughed with the brat and told me some inane thing about boys will be boys.
I asked him to set the kid down. I then punched dad right in the nose. I told the kid he was lucky he wasn’t older.
At the time I had waist length hair and my beard was nearly to my belt. I was carrying my helmet and the Harley was parked in plain sight. My arms are pretty well covered with tattoos. I guess dad had never watched a Grade B Biker movie.

[Quix]

I would have been inclined to have responded:

"You won't tell your kids "No!"???

"I See. Well, I hate to inform you, but you will be telling them NO! At the rate you are going, you will begin to tell them NO when your money for lawyers to keep them out of prison has run out and you have to say, No, I can't, I don't have any more money and mom and I have had to move into government housing."

[Quix]

We tend to not speak up because

A) we want to avoid making a fuss. We need to keep in mind the acting out child and wimpish parents have ALREADY MADE THE FUSS.

B) the tyranny of evil has contidioned the good to be wimpishly silent.

[Quix]

Good for you!

[Quix]

IMPRESSIVE! CONGRATULATIONS.

[Quix]

WELL SAID.

[R. Scott]

"Please help me find a "natural" consequence to little Johnny's offense." Meanwhile, little Johnny is pulling the cat's tail while Mom is posting for the other offense.

No problem.
Johnny pulls the cat’s tail, the cat scratches Johnny.
Johnny kicks a window the window (except Plexiglas) breaks and Johnny gets cut.
Johnny smacks the old man, the old man smacks him back.

[Modernman]

The son looked right at me and spit. The guy laughed with the brat and told me some inane thing about boys will be boys. I asked him to set the kid down. I then punched dad right in the nose. I told the kid he was lucky he wasn’t older.

LOL. A (painful) lesson in consequences.

You did the dad and the kid a favor. Little monsters often end up growing into big monsters. As an adult, he would find that a people he attacks might respond with more than just a tap to the nose.

[Quix]

AMEN!

NOW! is a great word.

[Modernman]

Johnny pulls the cat’s tail, the cat scratches Johnny.

We own a 20 pound Maine Coon cat. My niece grabbed its tail once. She didn't like the scratch she got, nor the rubbing alcohol that was needed to clean it afterwards. Life is very good at teaching you lessons.

[I_dmc]

Luv it!

[Quix]

I have been known to look kids nearby sternly in the eye and tell them in very stern tones that I didn't like their tone of voice.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

By the time the violin was retrieved, its bridge and neck were damaged.

I do hope the good professor presented the parents with a hefty repair bill for the violin.

[R. Scott]

Very Good!

[R. Scott]

They’re afraid if they ever say “no” the little brat won’t like them.
Big deal - the parents job is to raise, protect, socialize and teach.

[Xenalyte]

No, your son was CALLED "ADD" in school. If a whack on the head with a ruler "cured" him, he wasn't ADD in the first place.

[Xenalyte]

I'm not sure sending the kids to the car would be a good idea in 98-degree Houston.

[Mamzelle]

I do enjoy these child-rearing threads.

Despair mixed in with self-congratulation.

Hypothetical: Suppose your bright four-year-old had perfect "please/thank you" manners, but next Monday morning made up his mind that he'd never say "thank you" again. And, being bright and determined, persisted beyond all reason, punishment and persuasion?

What works with Son#1 will not work with Son#2--temperment, temperment.