Saturday or There's a Boy Riding a Scooter in the Restaurant!

Last Saturday I ventured across the bridge to my homeland of Philadelphia to have lunch with a good friend. He needed some cheering up because there was a sudden death in his family. I figured we'd go out and have a few drinks and do some shopping to take his mind off his troubles.

My first instinct was to take control of the day and set an itinerary of where we would eat, shop, etc. However, I decided to let my friend decide where to eat. [Wrong decision.] He wanted to go to one of those family style restaurants since there was one in his neighborhood the food was reasonably priced. I did't want to go, but I figured what could happen?

We went to the restaurant and were seated promptly. The server came to the table and took our drink orders. As she left, I noticed a little boy riding a scooter in the middle of the restaurant. I did a double take to make sure I wasn't imagining things; but indeed there was a little boy frolicking around on a scooter in the middle of the restaurant! I turned to my friend and muttered, "I'm so glad I don't have kids, because if that was my kid, I would lay the smack-down on his ass."

My friend looked at me in agreement and said, "What is wrong with parents?" Indeed, what is wrong with today's parents? It seems that most parents want to be their offspring's friend rather than the disciplinarian or adult in the relationship. Scooter-boy's dad was just looking at his son rolling around the restaurant on his scooter oblivious to the danger or possible accident he may cause. I mean, what's a broken ankle compared to letting scooter-boy have his fun? And there lays the problem! Parents want to give their kids almost anything they want just so they can be liked. My friend had to ask our server to tell the scooter-boy's dad that he had to stop riding that thing in the restaurant. [BTW, neither one of us have kids.]

Well here is a newsflash to those parents: You are harming your kids more than you are helping them because when they turn 18 [if they get to be that age] they are going to be in a world of hurt. You cannot be your child's friend! It doesn't work and it's not HEALTHY. How are you going to expect your child to respect other people and authority if you continue to allow them to pull such antics as riding a scooter in a restaurant, throwing tantrums in a grocery store, or being disrespectful to their elders. The world is NOT their oyster! So please stop treating them like your friends. If you do this now, your kids will have respect for you and others as they get older.

I know this, if scooter-boy was raised by my mother, he wouldn't have even thought about riding his scooter in the restaurant. If he even would have thought about it, my mother would have shot him a glare that meant, "Don't you dare." and that would have been the end if it. No questions, no crying, no complaints. It sort of makes me long for the good old days.