(no subject)
Once upon a time I took the girls to Applebees. It was family night so there were balloon animals and many children around. We were sitting in a booth, Clara and I on one side and Josh and Belle on the other. While we were waiting for our food a couple came in and sat in the booth next to ours. Clara turned around and said “Hi!” The man ignored her so Clara repeated her greeting. He ignored her again and I told Clara to turn around and leave him be. Clara had just started talking at that point so she was very excited to use any words she knew and eager to learn more. We were going over colors on the coloring sheet and she would point at things on the wall and outside of the window and asking what things were. When our server went to take the man’s order the man asked if he could make “the kid behind him shut the #$@#$ up”. Our server then told the man he could take his business elsewhere, because that was un-called for, and walked away. The couple then got up and left. Our server came back to our table and apologized profusely for what the man had said. I asked the server if he thought Clara was being too obnoxious and apologized. He reassured me that she was fine, and the man was out of line. In the mean time the children at the table next to ours were running around, jumping on chairs, and fighting over a balloon. The parents were oblivious.
One of my pet peeves is parents who don't watch their kids. I can't count the times I've been out to find an unsupervised child running around doing whatever they want without any regard to anyone else. This is why I try to keep my kids within sight whenever possible. I am constantly monitoring and correcting their behavior when in public.
Last night I took the girls to the Dregs Family X-mas Show. I rushed home, picked them up from grandma's, went to the bank, fed them left over pizza (of which there were only 2 slices meaning I went without dinner) and got them out the door as soon as I could. I was still a few minutes late so by the time I got to the show there were not 3 seats to be found together. Belle sat in the top row with manna_panna and unknownpoet. Clara and I shared a chair. Clara spent most of her time on my lap or dancing beside me on the floor. I kept a very close eye on her and tried to get her to be as quiet as possible. A woman behind us scowled at every noise and movement clara made. While my girls are not angels they aren't horrible either. They like attention and they like to express themselves. They are not intentionally rude and are mortified when people don't like them. Clara was definitely busy, but she wasn't bothering anyone except for that lady. When she argued with me about the bell or where she was going to sit I took her out of the theater and we talked about it. She listed each time. At one point I let Clara sit on the chair while I sat on the riser next to her. She was squirming a little, but not to the point that it distracted the guy sitting next to us. The lady got up, got in my face, and told me to control my child. She then stormed out of the theater. I had asked people sitting around us if Clara was bothering them the entire night. They all assured me she was fine.
I didn't take the girls to the show because I wanted to see it....I'm going to the adult show. I took them so that THEY could have the experience of seeing a band they love and people they love and don't get to see very often outside of fest. I don't expect everyone to like kids. I am in fact well aware that there are many people who don't like kids. But why would you go to a family show or family night at a restaurant and not expect there to be kids acting as kids do there?
I have been in the situation where a child is kicking my seat or screaming in my ear while the parent is oblivious. Rather than scowl or scold the parent I simply politely ask the child to stop. Most of the time this works, sometimes I have to politely let the parent know that the child is bothering me. In a very rare case I will move or ask to be moved if the children are out of line. I certainly don't agree with many parenting examples I have seen, but it is not my place to demand everyone live up to my expectations.
How can we teach our children to be functioning members of society if we are made to feel like we can't take them out into it?
One of my pet peeves is parents who don't watch their kids. I can't count the times I've been out to find an unsupervised child running around doing whatever they want without any regard to anyone else. This is why I try to keep my kids within sight whenever possible. I am constantly monitoring and correcting their behavior when in public.
Last night I took the girls to the Dregs Family X-mas Show. I rushed home, picked them up from grandma's, went to the bank, fed them left over pizza (of which there were only 2 slices meaning I went without dinner) and got them out the door as soon as I could. I was still a few minutes late so by the time I got to the show there were not 3 seats to be found together. Belle sat in the top row with manna_panna and unknownpoet. Clara and I shared a chair. Clara spent most of her time on my lap or dancing beside me on the floor. I kept a very close eye on her and tried to get her to be as quiet as possible. A woman behind us scowled at every noise and movement clara made. While my girls are not angels they aren't horrible either. They like attention and they like to express themselves. They are not intentionally rude and are mortified when people don't like them. Clara was definitely busy, but she wasn't bothering anyone except for that lady. When she argued with me about the bell or where she was going to sit I took her out of the theater and we talked about it. She listed each time. At one point I let Clara sit on the chair while I sat on the riser next to her. She was squirming a little, but not to the point that it distracted the guy sitting next to us. The lady got up, got in my face, and told me to control my child. She then stormed out of the theater. I had asked people sitting around us if Clara was bothering them the entire night. They all assured me she was fine.
I didn't take the girls to the show because I wanted to see it....I'm going to the adult show. I took them so that THEY could have the experience of seeing a band they love and people they love and don't get to see very often outside of fest. I don't expect everyone to like kids. I am in fact well aware that there are many people who don't like kids. But why would you go to a family show or family night at a restaurant and not expect there to be kids acting as kids do there?
I have been in the situation where a child is kicking my seat or screaming in my ear while the parent is oblivious. Rather than scowl or scold the parent I simply politely ask the child to stop. Most of the time this works, sometimes I have to politely let the parent know that the child is bothering me. In a very rare case I will move or ask to be moved if the children are out of line. I certainly don't agree with many parenting examples I have seen, but it is not my place to demand everyone live up to my expectations.
How can we teach our children to be functioning members of society if we are made to feel like we can't take them out into it?