Simply because you have hatched a rug rat does not give you a special right to inflict said ill bred and badly raised screaming monster upon the general public. If your child can't sit in a restaurant more sophisticated than McDonalds, concert, or theater without shrieking, howling, running around, or standing on the furniture - your child has no business in those venues, and you have absolutely no right to inflict your shrieking monster on otherwise innocent patrons of those venues.
Let me be painfully clear - the blame is not upon the child. It is upon you, as a bad parent and irresponsible adult, when a child incapable of appropriate conduct (routinely or temporarily) is inflicted on the general public. You and your partner either played bump-uglies or adopted this child, not the rest of us. If your kid is tired, habitually loud, or badly behaved - basic consideration dictates order-out at KFC for the duration - it's not our problem, it's not our responsibility, and your bad choices and bad parenting are not good reason for the rest of us to suffer a howling child over dinner.
You made your choices, now take your consequences.
And frankly, if you can't bear up under being a good parent and a considerate adult, take a long cold look at placing your kid with someone who can - your kid will have a better chance to make something of themselves with someone who can spell the world "discipline", and the rest of us will be grateful that you've taken steps to ensure that your child will grow up with rudimentary respect for others.
If you fail in this consideration, do not be surprised when suddenly you're surrounded by hostile folks discussing bad parenting skills. Don't be shocked at dirty looks. And if you're in a non-nanny state, don't be surprised when the venue owner asks you to leave.
In the meantime - I know I and my friends are looking for 21+ spaces (i.e., taverns in name only) where we can get a reasonably peaceful meal without piercing preteen shrieks driving through our ears like red-hot twenty penny nails.
1 comment:
My daughter pitched a public fit precisely ONE time - and that was in a card store, rather than a restaurant or other 'gathering place' - she very rarely experienced physical punishment {slapping a hand away from a hot stove, or popping a diaper are NOT abuse}, and what is amusing is to see her reaction when the mini-banshees are on the loose - "Did I ever act like that?"
Now, when my husband & I are out, and kids are running riot, my husband has some rather ................... interesting suggestions, the mildest of which is using retroactive birth control to preclude the "parents" of such from ever being around ..................... ;-)
Semper Fi'
DM
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