[BluegrassScholar]

Let the bratty horror stories begin...

[hsmomx3]

I haven't read all of the comments but if my kids were to act up, I would remove them from the premises.

Also, many are afraid to take action due to CPS or someone taking their license plate number down to call CPS.

My mom used to carry the wooden spoon everywhere we went. We weren't bad, it was more like a threat, if we were to act up.Of course, this was in the 1960's!!!

[PISANO]

Too many parents want to be friends with their children, buddies, pals etc, almost as a child wants approval, rather than being a DAD or a Mother FIRST. I have 6 children; 5 boys and a girl all grown with their own children and I can tell you from my experience that discipline and consistency tempered with love, is a winning combination.

Today, with the youngest (twins) being 38, I have a wonderful relationship with all of them, and I am still their FATHER, who is also their friend. Believe me it wasn't that way while they were growing up NOR could it have been.

[ClearBlueSky]

My oldest nephew ( who is 22 now, and a Dad) was a willful toddler. He threw temper tantrums while shopping for whatever huge toy he wanted.
I took him, and his year-younger brother shopping when they were 3 and 2. Before we left I told both boys that I wasn't their mother, didn't put up with tantrums and- if they 'pitched a conniption'- I would leave them where they were.
( I wouldn't have, of course, but they didn't know that. I was pretty convincing!)
I further reminded them that they didn't know where they lived, didn't know their parents names or phone number , had no money and no way home without me.
Of course, the older boy did his usual tantrum in the toy department, fell on the floor screaming. His baby brother kept telling him the big truck was ' too much moneys' but Tantrum Boy didn't listen.
I found a saleslady, explained what was happening and told her I was going to leave the store to sit just outside in the mall, where I could see said screaming kid on the floor.
She understood and said she'd stay nearby to watch him.
I did what I said I would do. Telling him what I was doing and why, I left him there, got a seat on a bench near the door and watched him scream and kick for about 3 minutes. Then he realized that I had, indeed, left him. When the tantrum turned to scared crying, I went back, thanked the saleslady and took a much-better behaved 3 year old home.
He never forgot that. Never did it to me again.

His now 3 year old daughter is even tempered and extremely reasonable and polite. We get compliments wherever we take her on her mature behavior.
I don't like spanking little kids- tho it can be necessary. I've found that a spray bottle of cold water does wonders for those tantrums, tho. Shocks them and does no damage.

[y2k_free_radical]

parents today are wussies

[SupplySider]

"You've got moms and dads doing two or three jobs. They come home frazzled, and they're feeling guilty because they know the children aren't getting as much attention as they should. They don't want to spoil the time when they feel they ought to be creating warm family memories by disciplining their kids and making a scene."

The hidden legacy of government theft by taxation, regulation, and inflation. The dad doing one job used to pay the bills.

Also culpable is the Marxixt-Feminist doctrine pervading the culture. Many of these mothers don't need to work that much to pay the bills. They do it for the promised self-fulfillment.

[valkyrieanne]

Brattiness has more severe consequences than just annoying other people. Parents who raise a brat are far less likely to be open to a large family. They can't handle the one brat, so having 4-5 kids seems incomprehensible. They don't understand that if one's children are *raised properly*, it's quite possible to have more than one child & enjoy them, too. Brattiness is probably a major cause of our abysmally low birth rates.

[imfleck]

Thanks for the post. Great conversation starter!

Here's an idea: Get a babysitter. Kids don't belong in restaurants.

[lastchance]

Parents need to know. "No" is a complete sentence. It needs no explanations, no excuses. It may need repeating and reinforcement usually in the form of one or two swats on a well padded behind. Never ever let yourself get drawn into an argument with a 2 year old or any brat. It is like mudwrestling with a pig- all that happens is that the pig enjoys it and you get dirty. If you can't say no to a toddler and have control how are you going to handle the burly 15 year old who demands the car keys and a six pack
This also would not happen as much if so many parents would not drag their young ones everywhere they go and keep them out way too late. You do have to give up some social life when you have kids. Deal with it.

[Fintan]

I just love it when liberals, leftists, socialists & the brilliant news media enforce their doomed social experiments and then proceed to bitch when it explodes in their faces.

 

[Hildy]

My bratty kid horror story isn't about a toddler, it's about a 16 year old boy. I was at a Passover Seder when the son of my hosts insulted his Father at the dinner table in a incredibly embarrassing way. I was dumbfounded that the parents did NOTHING. It was so uncomfortable, the Father looked like he was going to cry and I snapped.

I asked the boy to show me where the bathroom was. When we were upstairs, but in earshot of the entire party, I grabbed him and threw him into an empty room. I slammed the door and starting reading him the riot act. I asked him how dare he insult the man whose house he lives in. He was dumbfounded. He tried to get up and I pushed him down. (I'm 5'2" he was probably 5"10") He told me he was going to call the Police, I told him to go right ahead. I demanded he apologize to his Father and to everyone else at the table. He stormed out of the room and starting crying to his parents demanding to know how THEY COULD ALLOW ME TO SPEAK TO HIM LIKE THAT. To their credit, they told him they agree with me and that is how he treats them all the time. I told him that when he apologized to everyone I would leave. He went ahead and apologized to everyone and then his parents told me they wanted me to stay, which I did. The kid stormed off to his bedroom.

The next day the Mother called me and said that although she wasn't crazy about my tactics, she was glad it happened because they started really talking about the problems they'd been having in the house.

P.S.: I've never been invited over again.

[savedbygrace]

Here's my hot button:

Bring up the subject of children in public places and you will find a number of recurring complaints. There is, for example, the all-too-familiar scenario described by Layla Revis of Hollywood, California: "I was watching Cold Mountain, and there was a couple sitting in the middle of the theater with a 3-year-old girl. Naturally, the kid flipped out during the first battle scene and cried for a half-hour. Then, finally, somebody yelled, 'Take your kid outside,' and the whole theater started applauding."

I've stopped going to theatre showings because of this. I've seen people bring their infants, only a few weeks old, to the theatre. And they think it's cute when the infant cries. Sheesh.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

.

[television is just wrong]

Ignorant parents, and guilt.

ALSO THE SOCIAL SERVICES SYSTEM.