This past weekend, I was lucky enough to witness two parenting choices that I found to be ridiculous. Saturday night, my husband, two kids and I went to a restaurant we had never been to before. It was called Treno in Westmont, NJ if you're ever in town. It was great and I am looking forward to going there again. We sit in a partial booth. One side of the table was a booth and the other was chairs. At the table next to us was a woman and man that looked like they were in their mid to late twenties. With them was a little boy, probably about 2 1/2 years old. I couldn't tell if they were married. Even though the boy was sitting beside the man, the man said to him at one point, "You liked me yesterday." Would a father say that to a child? I guess anything is possible.
The couple tried to keep the boy entertained with small trucks that he was riding on the table. Then the boy gets down from his seat and walks slightly away from the table. The mom, with her sweet, "I don't want to be too demanding" smile, tried to coerce him back to the table. Next think I know, the kids is lying on the floor under the table. "What are you doing there, silly?" is all I heard from the mom about this.
Why does a child need to play under a dirty table? Why was this mom afraid to actually discipline him? This stuff drives me crazy. There is no acceptable excuse for letting your child run the show. This is not civilized behavior and only makes the time out with the child annoying and frustrating. The couple actually ended up taking their pizza to go. I will never understand this type of parenting.
The next day, my son had an ice hockey game. We got to the rink early for him to get dressed and while I waited, more people arrived. We all had to wait out in the open space until it got closer to the time the game was to start. I made a quick trip to the restroom and when I walked in, I saw two little girls filling up water guns. I'm not talking about little pistol type water guns. These things were big. They reminded me of a nerf gun. I immediately thought that there is no way these girls are going to shoot water in this place, is there? Sure enough, there they were, running around the ice rink shooting water guns. Again, ridiculous parenting. Why on earth would anyone allow this? As a parent, I would be mortified if my kid were doing this. This is wrong for so many reasons. First of all, the floor and whatever else they are shooting is getting wet. That creates a slip hazard and a mess that someone else has to clean. Then there is the possibility that someone else will get wet as well. They are running around like they are outside, which is dangerous, as there are many people around.
Do you think this type of behavior is appropriate? While we want our children to experience different things, is this really necessary? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
