Posted on 08/15/2006 6:24:16 AM PDT by steve-b
For Cindy Nooney's 3-year-old twin boys, playing with the Thomas the Train set at their local bookstore in Southern California is a major thrill. Jack and Sam push Thomas, Arthur and friends down the track, they run around the table, jump up and down — and, of course, they squeeeaal.
Nooney expects as much in the children's section of the store. But on a recent afternoon, she was surprised by an employee who confronted her, calling her darling Jack a tyrant.
"He was a little loud but this is a children's section," says Nooney. "They run a noisy, cavernous bookstore but they don’t want kids to make any noise? It just seems ridiculous and leads me to believe that they don't want kids, they want silent kids."
The bookstore is not the only place that likes quiet, controlled children — and isn't afraid to say so. Across the nation, there are signs of a low-burning uprising against children supposedly behaving badly in public.
Eateries from California to Massachusetts have posted signs on doors and menus saying "We love children, especially when they are tucked in chairs and well behaved" or "Kids must use indoor voices." In North Carolina an online petition was started last year to establish child-free restaurants — the petition loosely compared dining with children to dining with cigarette smoke....
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Exactly.
Hilarious!
We instilled a 'code of behavior' before we took her to 'nice' restaurants. My parents did the same for my sisters and me.
I don't doubt there are situations that are out of a parent's control. Most, if not all parents/others recognize that when it happens. Apologizing to those around you goes a long way. It's the parents who do nothing, say nothing, when they can, that gripes me.
> We instilled a 'code of behavior' before
> we took her to 'nice' restaurants.
What's a nice restaurant?
Did it work?
Problem is, in healthy societies, what you define rude is called normal.
Cranking out children and then not raising them properly is an act more becoming to an animal than to a supposedly rational human.
Yep, although their shoes got hung up and I had to flush twice.
As a waitress, I can tell you there is nothing more frightening or dangerous than a child running amok in a restaurant. Servers carry large trays, loaded with steaming hot food. It is impossible to see a child lurking beneath a tray until it is too late, and it's never the child who ends up covered in food--it is usually another server or a diner. Invariably, the parents of the junior comanche are engrossed in a cell phone conversation.
Oh, my. So rude behavior is normal? Civilization was based on manners, consideration for others, respect for boundaries, and perhaps most important, resonsibility. Otherwise, we're just savages with high-tech gadgets. I don't call that "healthy" at all. I call it "pretty darned sick."
I don't think we are talking about isolated incidents. Those are expected. We are talking about behavior. If a child is squealing at the top of their lungs in a store, that is a behavior. Any parent worth their salt would say "Hey, my child is squealing loudly. Maybe I should check on him". Or "My child is squealing loudly. That might disturb others".
Children learn very early what is acceptable and what is not. We have friends who are big liberals, very anti-gun. But they can't "make" their kids ride with a seat belt on. The children just will not do it. But they use a seat belt in our car because they know it is demanded. There is no negotiation in that regard. Period. End of discussion.
Too many parents today are content with defeat when it comes to raising their kids. No man with balls hanging will allow his child to dictate the terms of acceptable behavior.
One that doesn't have a play area.
LOL. When my children were young, we used to get a LOT of compliments from strangers. If you are like my husband and I, when you get out of the restaurant you breathe one huge sigh of relief and think "Phew. Fooled 'em again."
Now that they are older, its expected, and usually delivered so no compliments.
(My children are very well behaved in public most of the time. However, at home they turn into little, squabbling.....we're working on it.)
But the sad side of that commercial is that Europeans ARE using condoms (or abortion) to the degree they are depopulating Europe of Europeans.
And that is why Europe is becoming Eurabia.
LOL! Name three societies in which it is considered "normal" to allow one's children to run amok and disturb others in public.
I sincerely hope I can raise my children like yours....now it's just a matter of having the first one! LOL.
When my son was a toddler, we avoided eating out. I couldn't enjoy my meal if I was worried about annoying other patrons. Now, that's he's older we bring his game boy and keep the sound off. Works like a charm when he starts to get fidgety.
Waiters introduce themselves at Denny's?
;-)
My dreasm is a child free airline.
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