Community Chat

[vermint]

On 8/14/2014 lacey1 said:

I was never once smacked or spanked as a child, and I never struck my children, (nor my pets). My kids misbehaved, for sure- but I believed in either speaking to them about their behavior, or using a diversion. I wouldn't call the diversions a 'time-out' but more of a , 'You seem to be getting frustrated, let's do something else'. If we went somewhere fun, and someone did something really bad, I would say, 'get in the car, we're going home'.

It's also good to time your errands with children, properly. Don't take them to the supermarket when they are tired, hungry, etc.

This! I feel so sorry for little ones who are cranky because it's nap/lunch time and mom just insists on browsing the stores while they cry. You can tell the difference between "mad" & "tired/hungry" in a child's voice.

[Danky]

People are always commenting to one of my sons and his wife re. the good/polite behavior of their children...........my son's response is ""Thank you but isn't that the way they are supposed to behave ?"" BTW....this son/wife believe in ""spanking"" from very early on as I did with my kids. Old school....do as you are told. No discussion or diversion.

[straykatz]

Oh course there are lots of well behaved children out there...unfortunately the misbehaved are becoming more and more common when in fact they used to be quite rare.

[JustJazzmom]

When we used to go out to eat at 'family type' restaurants with 2 of our boys -- people used to compliment us on how nicely well behaved they were (ages 1 and 3 at the time).

I always had a diaper bag filled with little toys, books for them to look at and of course certain snacks. We made sure that they stayed in their seats because after all, going out to eat in a restaurant is just like eating at home (where you sit in your chair and do not get up from the table). We also didn't tolerate screaming or yelling and always spoke to them using the correct words and never used 'baby talk'.

Both these 2 boys are now adults and have grown into fine young adults.

[wagnerdancer]

On 8/14/2014 lacey1 said:

I was at Wal-Mart last week. The store was pretty busy and the checkout lines were very long. I was waiting to check-out, there were about 3 customers ahead of me.

The lines were taking a long time, the lady waiting in front of me finally just left her cart in line and left! Anyhow, the second family in line was a woman with 5 kids. I would guess their ages from 5 to 13? She had a huge order with school clothes and food.

Those kids were angels! They watched Mom the whole time. No electronic gadgets. Finally, when she got to checkout, she asked the two smallest kids to sit with an older one, (where she could see them) and the other kids helped her with the cart. Quiet, no fighting, perfectly behaved!

I told that woman that her kids were so well-behaved, that it was a pleasure to have watched them interact! She said, 'Sometimes they test me, but they ARE great kids'.

However, in the same store a few months ago. There was a family, kinda trashy looking. The kids were running around everywhere. I was trying to look at the meat case and two of them rammed me. I told them, "Kids, go play somewhere else, please". Well, they went and told their mother. and I overheard mom say, "Why didn't you tell her to go F herself!"

Can you believe that?

And that is exactly why her kids are the way they are. Any mother that would tell her child to disrespect an adult is not worth the space she takes up. I don't know which is worse the unruly kids or the trash parents.

[RetRN]

On 8/14/2014 happy housewife said:

These two incidents of children behaving well have stuck in your mind eh?

What?

[Shorty2U]

Do you have children? That's not always the case good parents good children. I know plenty of good parents (myself included even though my children are grown now). And theres not a one that can say their child never had a meltdown in public once. Whether it be whining for a toy or yelling. Kids aren't made to sit on a chair and fold their hands every minute (do we?)

Also you are forgetting children that have emotional or health problems that can cause behavior problems.

I don't judge parents I see like that out and about with their children crying, unless the parents are hurting their child, that I don't condone.

I never hit my child either, hitting promotes hitting. They still behaved most of the time but they did whine on occasion in stores as toddlers. Not the end of the world. They lived, they are fine and did not become entitled brats. (PS I used to say give me give me no get if they whined for something in the store. They learned to know that and stopped).

No ones perfect, not even children believe it or not.

[12andcounting]

On 8/14/2014 Danky said: People are always commenting to one of my sons and his wife re. the good/polite behavior of their children...........my son's response is "Thank you but isn't that the way they are supposed to behave ?" BTW....this son/wife believe in "spanking" from very early on as I did with my kids. Old school....do as you are told. No discussion or diversion.

I also believe in spanking, and so do my grown children. However, we all know the difference in spanking a child and beating a child. Some people don't seem to understand there is a huge difference in the two.

[NC Bandwagon]

There was a kid at a baseball game who caught a baseball, but the baseball was meant for another kid (yes, I know, the baseball is fair game once it's up in the air). The kid who caught the baseball gave it to the kid who was crying. The sports announcers were so impressed with this young man's kindness, that they invited him up to watch the game in the box (I guess that's what it's called. It's really high up and has a window), gave him a baseball bat, a t-shirt and him and his friends got to watch the rest of the game from that seat.

The sports announcers said that when an adult catches a baseball, they usually act very rude. But this kid was very kind about it.

[Maya Maye]

On 8/14/2014 Danky said: People are always commenting to one of my sons and his wife re. the good/polite behavior of their children...........my son's response is "Thank you but isn't that the way they are supposed to behave ?" BTW....this son/wife believe in "spanking" from very early on as I did with my kids. Old school....do as you are told. No discussion or diversion.

Amen!

As to a response to the OP, not necessarily. A parent can do all the right things and still have a stubborn, rebellious child who will not behave no matter what they do.