Kids these days.
Some days, I begin to wonder if one shouldn’t have a license to procreate. Was I that poorly behaved going to Wal-Mart? Would I scream at the top of my lungs continuously because mom moved the cart, or I didn’t get to buy a toy? Would I go to the restaurant with my parents, smear half my food on the furniture, a quarter more of it on the walls, and then complain that I was hungry? I hope not, but the vagaries of youthful memory certainly make me wonder. I certainly know that if I had acted the way I see some kids act in public lately, my parents would have knocked me silly, deservedly so — and wouldn’t have worried whether they were going to lose their kid as a result of disciplining him.
Now don’t get me wrong. I KNOW that I’m catching parents with kids at their bad days. I have more than one friend whose children have diagnoses somewhere along the Autism Spectrum, and I understand that. And really, as curmudgeonly as I may sometimes act, kids can charm the hell out of me. But I still can’t help but wonder sometimes if modern parents really aren’t capable or willing to deal with their childrens misbehavior — or that they aren’t willing to “suck it up, buttercup” and sacrifice the trip to the movies, or going to the quick-serve restaurant, if their kid won’t fall into line.
It also doesn’t help that society thinks that the government knows how best to raise children, to the point where they will interfere with parental authority, control, and discipline of their children. I won’t deny that there are plenty of abuses by overzealous parents who can’t control their temper, or see their names on the birth certificate as similar to having their name on the title to property. However, I can’t help but wonder if the government oversteps its bounds in the name of ‘protecting the child’… and that the child knows this. Is there a solution? I really don’t know.
But I’m considering changing my name to Wilson… and you kids really need to get off my lawn.
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