seymourherald.com
http://seymourherald.com/opinion-columns/2009/sep/21/the-voice-of-reason/
the voice of reason
unruly children
published: September 21 2009 09:55 PM
updated:: September 21 2009 09:55 PM
By: C.T. Stockton
Why? Why? Why? Parents, why do you feel it’s appropriate to take your children out in public places if you can’t control them? Let me give you an example. When you go to a restaurant in Seymour or even in Knoxville, Sevierville or P.F. without your children, just you and your spouse, do you want to hear about the kid life at the next tables? Or do you just want to enjoy your dinner alone with your spouse?
Two recent experiences in a restaurant have really made me say to myself “What the hell is wrong with people these days?” What ever happened to that old adage “children should be seen and not heard”?
Why have we as a culture abandoned that way of thinking? People back in the day grew up with manors instilled in them that lasted a lifetime, many of you reading this may have been raised that way and know what I’m talking about.
But our recent generations just don’t seem to care. they think nothing of having a screaming 2yr old banging on every plate at the table with any silverware they can get their grubby little hands on.
Come on, this is not acceptable behavior in public.
We as parents are supposed to teach our children these things while preparing them to become productive members of society. If you are a parent who has a child that behaves badly in public then you are a failure, plain and simple.
I have 4 children ranging from 7 to 17, none of whom would ever think of treating a restaurant, a store, any public place like their own personal playground the way most children behave today. I raised my children with manors and respect for other people’s property and space.
Its really not that difficult, when we are in a restaurant we are there to eat, period, we as adults don’t get up and run around from table to table annoying other patrons of the establishment, there fore I am a example for my children. We sit, we eat, no one gets out of theirs seats, there are no problems, that’s just the way it is.
There is no excuse for bad behavior by children in public, I don’t blame the children, they just haven’t been taught. I blame the parents for being bad teachers.
Of course the people at the next table are going to be polite and smile when your child starts hanging off their table telling them all about their new puppy. But that is a total lack or respect for people’s space on your part as a parent, and it just makes you look bad.
I don’t care how cute your little Johnny is, I don’t care about his puppy. I am trying to enjoy my dinner I didn’t get out of the house to baby sit your little brat.
Teach your children to respect other peoples’ space in public, is that really to much to ask?