Interesting

I was browsing through random news articles this morning and found this: Restaurant says it has heard enough, bans kids

As I read through this article I was thinking, wow, there's going to be a lot of parents commenting about how horrible this is and whine and complain. Surprisingly though, that isn't the case. I just kept reading comment after comment about how people who have children need to *gasp* discipline their children and be a parent.

Now, I never make comments on any article that I read online. I don't do this because there are people that are going to argue with you just because they like to argue. Especially if it's something that gets me irritated. I personally believe if I post something in an angry fashion then all I'm doing is sinking to the level of the people that are arguing and fighting already.

But that's a whole other topic for a whole other post. My point for posting a link to this article is that it got me to thinking that I wasn't nearly alone as I thought in the viewpoint that some people feel like they have the right to let their children be disruptive when they're in a public place. And I mean anywhere, not just restaurants. I've been told, and I also remember that growing up, that I was quite a handful. However, I mostly behaved when we were taken out into public and that's because my parent's taught me that I was either going to behave or I was going to be punished appropriately. And I could go into a whole rant about how people need to discipline their children more, but I think it's pretty obvious already. I would like to think that the people who do nothing and/or encourage the bad behavior in their children would read all the comments and think, well they may have a point. Instead most people automatically get offended. I think what I'm trying to say here is, all of you people that have such children should try being open to criticism and suggestion. Someone might tell you something that could make your life a little easier and help you control your kids.

And I'll go ahead and say that I don't have children, as anyone that knows me is well aware of. However, if for some reason you're reading this and don't know me, no, I don't have children. But I did work at a daycare for awhile and I've babysat several times as well. And while some may say that's not very much experience, I will say that I've taken care of good children and bad children and the bad children that I had to give time outs to and get on to the most were the ones that got upset the most when I finally had to leave and move to Tuscaloosa.

The point of that little story was to say that, while I don't have children, I've had some experience with them and you get a whole lot more respect from them if you keep them in line rather than letting them do as they please. Because I could have let them run wild. I was the only one supervising my room at the daycare and of course I was the only one babysitting, so I could have cared less and let them be crazy. But to save myself some grief and maybe teach the children some manners, I disciplined them if they did something wrong. It wasn't fun, but the more you do it the easier it is and while the child may be mad at you at the moment, they will respect you eventually and that's very important in my book. I also know that it will be different when I have my own that need to be disciplined. I'm sure it will be much harder for me to do that to my own, but I'm going to do it. For my children's own good, for mine and Doug's own good, and for the good of everyone else. My parent's didn't put up with my crap and I'm thankful everyday for it because I believe that I have more respect for others because of it.

Ok, I'm finished ranting now. Take what you will from this, it's merely my thoughts on the matter and nothing more. Feel free to comment if you'd like.