good grief people - control your children!!! >=(

[Mu Satach]

It's 12 : 30 AM

my neighbors have one, possibly two maybe three children running around SCREAMING their heads off over god knows what and running up and down the hall and the parent/s??? are not helping - in fact I think they are making it worse by playing/half heartedly reprimanding them.

they sound anywhere between the ages 4 to 8

I know it's saturday night, but please please please!!! >_<

I have to be up early tomorrow and I can't sleep.

I mean, what the hell did they do? shoot them full of candy and caffeine? A couple of hours ago they were all watching what sounded like a disney flick and it was relatively calm, suddenly about 45 min. ago all hell started breaking loose. :mad

I love it when I see/hear adults playing with their kids, but during daylight and preferably at the park Man! not at almost 1 AM in the morning.

[Aurelias Kazaar]

You DO realize they no longer teach parenting right? I remember in 2001/02 or whenever it came out, going and see Blade 2 and there was a frackin' FIVE-YEAR-OLD there. A five-year-old.

What's wrong with this picture?

[stevenvdb]

Some basic parenting ideas should probably be part of a comprehensive study field of health, human developement, sexuality and relationships taught on the grade school level*, except for one word that strikes fear and ends much of any meaningful discussion when it comes to kids and their education.

Guess which one that is. ;)

With fear, the dialogue ends and it is a struggle to get the basic 'plumbwork' out, much less the cahnce of anything more meaningful.

*I suspect most religious schools have some form of this connected to a basic working of their faith system, but there is often less histerics when it is thought the discussion is going to be controlled within such frameworks, compared to a publically funded system that has to deal with a diverse cultureset, where it is felt that they have little control over the discussion.

[Wyl Staedtler]

Clearly they haven't learned that the only way to keep kids quiet when they're hyped up at night is to stumble out with crazy eyes and threaten to hang them from the ceiling by their toes, so help me god.

*mails you sound-dampening earphones*

[Nya Halcyon]

Oh, when I went to the midnight viewing of the last Harry Potter movie, there was a woman there making a scene because they wouldn't allow her to bring in her 5-year-old. There's an actual law that forbids this, but she insisted that she'd had no problem at all two years earlier when the 4th movie had come out and she'd taken her then 3-year-old into the midnight viewing.

I mean.... hello?!?!?!? What's a three-year-old kid doing in a midnight showing of a Harry Potter movie?!?!?! Nevermind the time, what's he doing in that movie?!?!

But yeah, back to the topic: I think there used to be such a thing as a paternal instinct. The sort of thing that made you understand and be aware of your children's moods, needs, etc... like knowing when to insist on your kid to wear a warm hat before going outside into the cold, or to insist on not letting them run around inside a public bus, or something. I'm saying there USED to be, because IMO that's slowly disappearing. A lot of parents I've come across are of the opinion that they must be friends, and not parents, to their kids; there are an awful lot of people who think it's quite okay if their kids are the ones who make the decisions in the family (Quote - of the mother of a 3-year-old: "My daughter's my boss, really!"). A lot of kids I've come across through my own daughter have either no manners at all or are severely misbehaved and have never been told that other families might do things differently (quote: "You mean you eat with knife and fork every day?!?", or throwing themselves on the ground screaming their heads off when they don't get something at a party... uhmm....). I don't have to go far for examples of what parents do wrong - heck, my ex is the best example for someone who has no grasp of what kids really learn from: the examples their parents set. And if the parents don't give a damn what they do, they use swearwords, they have no table manners, they constantly behave in a way innapropriate, then what's the use of them telling their kids not to do that?!?! They will simply imitate that.

Oh well... this is one of my favorite rant topics, but I'm not getting started now. I think people should be sent to parenting school, pass an exam for a parenting license and not be allowed to have kids unless they have been proven to possess that instinct. But that's just MO.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't think it's that they're bad parents, necessarily... just bad people. I mean, your attitude as a parent is surely derived from your personality as a whole? If you are responsible and mature, then you will logically be a responsible and mature parent. If you are a feckless dreg of society, your child will inevitably run wild. At least that's how it seems to me.

I wish there was a limit on how many children people could have, and some kind of test you had to pass first.. but sadly the British government would rather encourage idiots to reproduce by giving them even more child benefits.

[Mu Satach]

A combination of white noise and tea helped and somebody must have finally looked at a clock as they settled down before I hit the *must turn into a ratty neighbor* mode.

The future is scary sometimes when I think of it. A nation of spoiled brats creating a nation of whiners... that'll work. Oh yeah... =\

[Rutabaga]

I have that problem sometimes, although not quite as bad as what you experienced. The woman downstairs frequently babysits her grandchildren, and they are fond of yelling and slamming doors. Sometimes they're there until after 9 o'clock at night, which to me is late for kids that age...I'm always wondering why they're not in bed and asleep. I also think they're allowed to control the volume on the TV, which of course means it's blasting. Plus on nice days when they're here, I can't always have my front door open to get fresh air, because everybody decides to boot them outside to play and they're shrieking right under my open door. I am a curmudgeon, I know :shakefist.

I also had yet another trip to the movies somewhat tainted by bored children last weekend. I still really do not understand why people pay good money to get their kids into the theater, and then when the kids get bored, the parents think it's appropriate to let the kids act like they're in their own living rooms. These particular kids kept talking, walking around, changing seats, and kicking seats the entire time. If they're bored and disruptive, TAKE THEM OUT! :shakefist

[Mandy with an I]

I went on a date to see Monster Vs. Aliens, and the theatre was packed with children. Thankfully, he dislikes them too.

I mean, I can't say that I had a horrible childhood, or that I was beaten or anything, but I always respected my mum/other adults. Parents try to be their kids friends too much these days. :-/

[Mitch]

When I went to see Terminator Salvation, there was not one, but THREE babies in the theater! And the people with them all sat in FRONT of me!

Why in the world would you take a BABY to a movie like that? It's loud and explosion-y! Last I checked, babies don't really like that, and when one of them started to cry, all the lady did was try and rock it. So I leaned down and none-too-quietly said, "Hey, lady, you can take that baby out now. For the rest of the movie, or we're all about to get a lot louder."

Her husband glared at me, but I just shrugged and said, "What, why the hell did you bring a baby in here in the first place? It's your own fault. Now get it out."

They left, but came back about fifteen minuted later, thankfully the child had hushed up.

[Peter McCoy]

Her husband glared at me, but I just shrugged and said, "What, why the hell did you bring a baby in here in the first place? It's your own fault. Now get it out."

Awesomeness! I blew off some steam last week. A football match had let out by where I live. I was on my way home from work on the train. As it pulled into the station, Everton fans had totally filled the platform. The doors opened and practically wiped their noses for them. They then moved to get on the train which just infuriated me.

"Will you just wait one fucking minute while other people get off - ignorant bastards."

Now normally when you speak to a group of football fans like that, it's time to die. But I'd gotten away with it and they shuffled apart to let me and the other people off (bear in mind a girl had a pram right next to me as well, which they'd have tried to walk through) I reckon they were just dumbfounded I'd reacted like that.

There's no excuse for poor manners. Kids, maybe, because that comes with time. But not from adults. I always do it - if I see people trying to get on before the other passengers have gotten off, I'll damn well point out how bloody rude they are. If it's not packed, and there's ample room for people to get in and out at the same time then fair enough, but if they've surrounded the door and expect you to cling to the ceiling and avoid them they can go and shite.

[Darth Turbogeek]

I just hate all parents and all children on principle because they will all do something that will eventually piss me off. Stop breeding and dont even THINK of getting close to my... errr.... wait I dont have a lawn anymore :D

[Selinica Miriya]

Mine goes to bed at seven PM and remains quiet for at least 12 hours.

She is learning the meaning of an 'inside voice'.

We don't run, jump or throw things in the house.

Whining and complaining are not tolerated.

Etc.


...Really, is it that hard? |I

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Bad parents rear more bad parents.

Thankfully both my husband and I had good parents. :)

[Ibaris Varanin-Jacobs]

No offense to my parents, but they weren't the greatest. :\ I'm making the effort to be better that that from which I came. :ohno

[Lykaios]

Well, even though I don't have any children, from what I've seen with my friends who do, parents need to be parents, period.

All of my friends who have kids are of the philosophy that parents should be friends and all that bologna and their kids are nothing but full blown brats. They talk to their kids when they are being naughty and blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that when reprimanding a kid, people should yell at their kids, and while I'm not saying either that a spanking is the solution, when a kid needs to be grounded, they need to be grounded and that's that.

I remember my dad would ground me with one or two weeks of no TV or videogames or going over to my friend's house. Today, most people I know, talk to their kids and teach them about the consequences of their actions, which is all fine and dandy, but instead of then being sent to their room, they'll end the conversation asking the kids if they understood and if they nod or say yes, they send them on their merry ways, cause they're their friends.

My dad was never my friend, he was my father and sure we got along great and had some awesome times together but there was a line that I never crossed and still don't to do this day cause he's my father, not my friend.

*shrug*

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I just hate all parents and all children on principle because they will all do something that will eventually piss me off. Stop breeding and dont even THINK of getting close to my... errr.... wait I dont have a lawn anymore :D


You are such a Negative Nancy :colbert

Does this mean you're gonna hate me when I have a kid?

[Mandy with an I]

^ when you have a kid, it's going to be beyond spoiled (by me) >_>;

Mark has to be the forums grumpy old man.