Less than three weeks ago, my husband and I took our three children (6 and under) to a family restaurant. My sis in law, her husband, and their 2.5 year old were with us. The kids did exceptionally well for their age.
At the end of our meal, our waiter brought ice cream for the three older kids (the youngest was just born in June). A party at another table bought it for them because they said it had been a long time they had seen such young children behave so well in a restaurant.
Now if they could just see how well they act at home they might have taken the ice cream back :)
CONGRATS! Impressive.
I persistently go out of my way to applaud wise, loving and firm public parenting.
And, I've been known to hand parents a 3 X 5 card with 'helpful counselor suggestions' when the parenting has been rather nonexistent.
I USUALLY do the latter as I'm leaving but not always. Usually, have been able to word things in a way that the parents receives it as helpful.
Occasionally, I leave a note that's merely a warning that if the observed trend continues, the parent should prepare themselves to visit their child in prison.
Amazingly, I'm still alive.
I think.
What a nice story.
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Great story. The proudest moments of my life (raising kids) are not their achievements, but the numerous compliments we received in public places, from total strangers, as to how well behaved they were.
The greatest gift we can give them as parents, aside from wings, is the "accidental" quality of being liked by most other people.