People Need to Stop Having Children-Part 2
September 27th, 2009 . by Tim Babb (TANcast's #1 Host/Editor Fan)30 Days and 30 Blogs: Day 26
So I’m at Panda Express earlier behind a shit ton of people. One of them is a family of 5; a dad, a mom, a baby boy, a girl toddler, and a boy toddler.
While mom and dad are busy blathering to each other (dad’s holding the baby) the two toddlers set about climbing on the tables. Dad glances over to see them doing this and says, “get down.” However, he doesn’t say it in the sort of big, gruff, “dad means business” sorta tone. He says it as though he’s asking the kids to pass the salt. He then follows up by returning to his conversation with mom.
Well toddler girl climbs a little higher on the table…before losing her balance and falling chin first on the table next to it. She begins to cry. At this point mom and dad spring into action right? WRONG. The kid walks around crying and bleeding for a good minute before the Black family seated near the kids called the parents attention to the fact that the little girl had hurt herself. (oh, yes…the BLACK family had well behaved kids…deal with that you stereotyping fucks!)
Well now mom is takes the crying little girl to the bathroom. Now you would think that at THIS point either mom, dad, or both would make sure the toddler boy stopped climbing on the same tables…f you did think that, you would be wrong. Dad turned around and started deciding whether he wanted the orange chicken or the sweetfire chicken, which was WAY more important than monitoring his son.
You would expect that this story would end with the toddle boy falling and hurting himself as well…but it doesn’t. Which is almost worse. It’s great that the little boy didn’t hurt himself, but those parents clearly learned no lesson. They will continue to ignore their kids while thinking about their dining options. And even if none of the kids hurt themselves, can you please teach your children that it’s not okay to climb all over the table I’m about to eat on?! Sheesh!!!
September 27th, 2009 at 3:21 am
I agree, some parents suck. Today we saw a mom paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to one of her small children navigating a parking lot (specifically, the kid opened the passenger side door just as I was about to park in the space next to them, nearly crushing the kid, but luckily I was paying more attention than the parent).
HOWEVER, it’s easy to criticize until you become a parent yourself. Our child isn’t even walking yet, but I can already understand the mindset exhibited by the less responsible parents out there. I certainly hope and will try extremely hard to never be that inattentive, but you’d be surprised what can happen even when you think you’ve got the situation covered. We’ve already learned that lesson.
September 27th, 2009 at 3:25 am
I hate to rain all over your anti-stereotyping parade, Tim, but the black kids here are the worst behaved. Along with the Mexican kids. I’ve had to address both groups of children for things like…. throwing things at my window (while their parents watched them do it). The white kids on the other hand… not so much of an issue. Granted, it’s probably just those two families that are fucked up (that’s right… there’s only one black and one Mexican family in my apartment complex). Okay, I don’t hate to rain on your anti-stereotyping parade. That was actually the whole point of this paragraph. ON TO PARAGRAPH TWO!
As for people need to stop having children… I fully intend to have children one day. However, I have the maturity (have since I was about ten, actually) to set aside the pressing issues of what kind of chicken I want, to make sure the kids around me don’t like… die or get hurt or anything. I actually lost many glasses of orange soda to children (okay, one child… my favorite baby cousin. Yes, I have a favorite, DEAL WITH IT!) climbing on furniture… then jumping, and me dropping said soda to catch them before they kill themselves. At three, I knew you didn’t let kid’s climb on furniture! Granted, I climbed on furniture…. but I was always the “do as I say, not as I do” type. This comment had a point…. oh yeah! People don’t need to stop having children, only stupid and/or irresponsible people do.
I know it was a rather long winded way of saying that, but… oh well! lol
September 27th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Well, you know where I work. I save the lives of children on a fairly daily basis while their parents laugh at how “cute” their kids are. -_-
September 27th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I agree.
My kid’s a handful, but he’s watched. All the time. I try to make sure he usually avoids getting hurt, and I always make sure he isn’t disrupting other people when we are out.
Sometimes, though, when he’s doing stuipd shit, and won’t listen when I tell him to stop, I let him get hurt. Never anything dangerous, of course, but sometimes they just need to learn by doing.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@ Melanie: Too true. You actually do your kids a disservice if you constantly shield them from all consequences.
September 28th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Thanks for the advice, my husband & I will soon be parents. I’m hoping we’ll be alot better than some of the crazies out there.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I agree, Geoff. I learned not to do stupid shit on my bike when I scraped my knees. If my kid is running around like a madman and it’s wide open and the worst that will happen is he’ll trip and get a bruise or a scrape, I’ll let it happen. If he’s running around like a madman in a crowded place, or with, I don’t know, SCISSORS, and he’ll hurt himself badly, or hurt someone else, it’s time to intervene.