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Originally Posted by sa meredith
Grant...not really sure how to take your post...other than you standing up, taking a great big bow, and saying, "my wife and I got it right!"
Way to pat yourself on the back.
Telling people who may have fussy, fidgety, or possibly hyper-active kids, that they have failed??!! Shame on you.
Who appointed you to set the standard? Some may say 4 young children (say, 11 and under) sitting quietly, patienly, and calmly at a table, together, for any period of time, is indeed "abnormal".
As kids (3 of us) we were the "abnormal" ones, as mom ruled with an iron fist when we got home (yes, it means what it means) so we were quiet, out of fear ...but I'm quite certain those are no longer excepted methods of raising children.
Seriously, children are children...sometimes, as like adults, they get into foul moods, and don't know what to do with the emotion.
Maybe you didn't mean to sound harsh, and a bit snobby with your post...but it reads that way.
By the way...your daughter pulled a freak show on a public boat, in front strangers??? Her parents must be complete failures.
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Ha! Setting the standard? Hardly. Patting myself on the back? Not quite. Just pointing out that it's not all that hard. As a parent, I'm as flawed as anyone...trust me. There's no handbook, and if there were, I wouldn't have read it. And, yes, children are children -- and to expect them to act otherwise is a waste of time. But to say that a large (and growing) percentage of parents today fall short when it comes to instilling the most basic sense of respect in their kids is
not a stretch. Take a look around. Ask any teacher.
The basic premise of the thread -- banning kids from restaurants -- is patently absurd. But that point was raised for a reason. Think about it.
And the anecdote about the tantrum on the Mount? Merely an illustration that even a self-congratulatory snob like myself, who's raised potentially abnormal, Stepford-zombie offspring, has had a kid melt down. (Also an attempt to keep the post Lake-oriented, in keeping with Forum protocol.) And it wasn't the only time...far from it. My point: Incidents involving obnoxious, un-disciplined kids are way more prevalent today...and it's more often than not a reflection of lax parenting (AKA the "no longer excepted [sic] methods"). Your mileage may vary.
So, call me old school. Opinionated. I won't deny it, and don't mean to hold myself up as a model. As a kid, I was
far from angelic, but I am grateful to my parents for not only instilling a real sense of discipline and respect in us, but giving us the latitude to make (and learn from) our own mistakes along the way. I've tried to do the same with my own kids.