Reply #185: If you raise your kids the way you say you do, then you're not the problem!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

Why are you taking any and all criticism of parents personally? Surely, at least once in your life, either pre- or post-parenthood, you have encountered some unruly youngsters in public and been annoyed by them, and maybe thought their parents could be doing a better job. Surely you've been somewhere that wasn't appropriate for children (like a bar) but yet, there somebody was with children anyway. Obviously, all these complaints must be based on something, don't you think? I agree that people shouldn't make broad brush statements about parents, and I should avoid using terms like "spawn" to describe children, point taken. But you shouldn't assume that no one ever has a legitimate complaint about poorly disciplined children.

As for me, I'm not particularly bothered by most children in my midst. Generally, I'm the one on the plane who just turns up my ipod or sticks my nose further in the book when there's a cranky kid near me. About 3 years ago, I had my big toenail damn near ripped off in the supermarket by a little kid of about 4 or 5 who came careening around the corner with his kiddie kart and rammed it into my foot. Let me tell you, that hurt like hell. I didn't make a big stink about it or berate the child or his mother. She was very apologetic about it because she KNEW she hadn't been supervising her boy. She was busy chatting with a neighbor while the child was running up and down the aisles. So I went home and put some neosporin on it and didn't sue anybody. It does go to show that unsupervised, undisciplined children can be a safety hazard as well as an annoyance.

At any rate, sorry for being so obstreporous in this thread.