True, just like Plime.

Hip hip hooray!

That's something I've been saying for a while now. There are stores that I refuse to shop at past 10AM because the uncontrolled children seldom appear before then.

Didn't Bill Maher say this a few years ago?

A lot of people do.
I think people are finally getting seriously fed up.

I'd love to bold this and paste it everywhere. I completely agree.


Undisciplined dogs are one of the few things that annoy me more than undisciplined kids. In a way it seems crazy to consider myself lucky because I had strict but loving parents and a mother and grandmother who's wrath I still fear.

I'm glad I grew up as part of a huge and diverse family, I've been able to watch everyone raise kids in different ways. I've been taking notes since forever. I really want to make sure that my future kidlings are raised right.

The fact that signs like "unattended children will be given espresso and puppies" exist says it all, IMO.

Can we call ourselves the 'Jack Cafferty' gang now?

Or at least the "Bingo Gang"?

Ahh..the decline of schools. My daughters teacher called her stupid today...in class...in front of her peers. Needless to say, they received one hell of an earful via phonecall once we found out (it was 4 when she got home, so most people were gone). Now I'm debating on going up there and bringing down the wrath of a pissed off momma upon them.

When I was in school...NO teacher would EVER call a student stupid. Demeaning a child ESPECIALLY directly in front of their classmates is wrong wrong wrong.

(sorry for the tangent, i'm still severely peeved off)

My children do not act up in public. I refuse to have a bunch of lil feral beasts with me in a store. My folks didn't raise me and my brothers that way, and I sure as heck am not having my kids act like demons. Luckily, I raised my children to be able to walk down every toy isle there is, and LEAVE with no toy at all, and they are FINE with it.

( THe only issues I've had were with Augi with him being autistic and sensory issues. He had sensitivity to certain lights and smells and would FREAK OUT. Easy fix, just walk him away from those stores or areas. Some loud sounds would send him into seizures (vacuum cleaner for example), but that was easily avoidable too.)

But when my dad was in school it was perfectly OK. As was the teacher pulling hair, smacking hands with rulers, and generally slapping the students around. In some states it's still legal for teachers to do this, though not commonly practiced.

No, what's wrong with our kids is bigger. It's the collapse of community. It's the collapse of a unified local identity. It's the lack of access to basic community assets. If you're curious, look into asset building and what current research is finding about children and their development today.

I can honestly say from my work chair that parents are not in control of their children and they call the police to get control of them.

I am not sure what happened along the way. I never talked to my parents the way these kids talk to theirs. I feared the wrath of my parents.

On scene I have had kids get mouthy to me. I quickly put them in their place that I will not be talked to that way.

I think people are too busy to be families anymore, sit down dinners and everyone goes their own way. That is where kids get into trouble.

People became too lazy and too coward to stand up against their small tyrants, that's what happened along the way. And not only did it happen at the interpersonal level, it also happened at the social level (it's called 'political correctness' and it involves the self-provoked tirany of the minorities over the majority which means you have to respect everyone but never expect anyone to respect you or you're a nazi). Maurice G. Dantec describes it very well in most of his books.

PS: I'm a father, I'm not attacking parents without knowing. :)

I couldn't agree with you more!

While you're at it, maybe this is one the only time when making it a flashing animated GIF is also a good idea.

Seriously, if parents would just stop treating their kids as adults and stuff, and just raise them like they should a LOT of the world's problems would be solved.

Especially in Europe (don't know about the US) this is becoming such a problem.

I often see a mom talking to a 4 year old kid that's shouting and screaming and throwing stuff around in the store. And what does she say to the kid:

*in a calm voice* "Baby, please don't do that. It's not very mature of you, and you are making a mess. Please stop doing that, otherwise I'll have to clean it." And then smiles at the people around her... Man then I just feel like grabbing a club and hitting the mom over the head.

... and then the kid.

Well my kids are pretty f**king special, to me at least, but they're also well behaved.

Cafferty is awesome.

"Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."

-- Socrates

"In my day, kids walked to school in the snow and knew the value of hard work and you'd come home after the teacher poked you in the eye over and over for answering a question too slow and you liked it!!! We didn't have your fancy cell phone gizmos and your mtv and your email and your Buffy the Vampire Slayer and your Baby GAP. No, all we had was moldy bread and water and parents that made good use of the only family heirloom we had....brass knuckles. And we were thankful for it!"

Cafferty can eat me.

The key is consistency. You can make most kids behave well with calm reasoning, if that's how they've been raised, with consistency and followthrough.

There's nothing magical about raising your voice, yelling or smacking your kid. Most parents who have to resort to that (to varying effect) can thank their own chaotic parenting style for their kids not responding to a calm but serious tone. If the kids think they can sometimes get away with stuff, they'll try it all the time.

My kids generally behave quite well in public, but if they don't - getting down to their level and reminding them that they're not allowed to act like that usually does the trick.

Hater.

Even though he is right.