so don't ask if you don't want to know
It's society's fault!
One of my new favorite sites is People of WalMart. Seriously, some of these photos could be people out there at any store, but WalMart seems to draw them in. Either that or it just draws in the photographers.
One popped up today:
With this comment underneath:
Parents, STOP THIS! Stop this now! Your kid is not a dog, get him off the leash. I don’t want to hear that you are too busy to watch your child in public. Your priorities are kid first, remembering milk second. Most of the time it’s the kids on leashes that are ignored by their parents the most. But i guess its okay that little Timmy is throwing Oreos at an employee as long as he is doing it while tied to his monkey backpack leash. JUST STOP IT.
(Here’s where I’m gonna piss people off.)
This is society’s fault. The day it became unfashionable and even criminal to smack your kids in public (or at all apparently) you took the power away from the parent and put it the hands of the toddler. At that age there’s no punishment as swift or as understandable to a kid than a swat on the bottom for bad behavior. Time outs and taking away privileges might work great at home but to a little person feeling freedom LOGIC and negotiation will never work. Some kids run off and get into things no matter how closely you watch them or how you try to gently talk them out of it. Those screamers trapped in the cart? That’s your fault. Those brats running around between the racks? Yup, you did that. That boy on a leash? Accept your responsibility.
What can a parent do? I knew that my Mother would slap the shit out of me if I acted like a loose animal in public. She knew HER Mother would do the same. My kids knew I’d drag them out of the store, grasped very tightly by their upper arm, and slap them when we got in the car. Hey, at least I’d get my darling out of the store to stop his annoying other people. THIS man knew that it works, though slapping someone else’s child is never okay. He should have slapped the parent.
Yeah, I know. People shouldn’t take their bratty kids out in public. Right. I said that too before I had kids. Not everyone has the time to perfectly plan every venture out right down to the possible mood of the moment for each child. Sometimes we’re too tired of the battles. Sometimes we have to stop by the store on the way home from the daycare and our little dark angels aren’t at their best. Sometimes you just get dealt that one kid who no matter what won’t behave and you’re reduced to ignoring him hoping to get through your errand without killing him. BECAUSE HE KNOWS YOU CAN’T DO SHIT ABOUT IT. So what do parents do when they can’t discipline their kid? They give in to demands, distract them with toys or candy (exacerbating the behavior) or ignore the kid to focus on whatever brought them out in the first place.
And it’s all your fault.
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about 2 years ago
Hear, hear!
about 2 years ago
Negative feedback worked for the last 4.5 billion years or so. The efforts of some in the last few decades will do nothing to change that.
Smack the little bastards when they need it, where they need it. They tend not to be as big of little bastards when you do.
E.
about 2 years ago
I will admit that there was a brief period when I had my oldest child on a leash. It wasn’t one of those harnesses; it was the wrist-to-wrist model. She wasn’t a particularly unruly child, but she hit toddlerhood right when child leashes became popular. As I recall, we didn’t use it long because she wasn’t much of a terror.
I don’t spank my kids because it doesn’t work for me. However, I do agree that most kids these days don’t seem to have the healthy fear of their parents that would stop them from running around the store, so gadgets like child harnesses have become necessary. Also, I’ve never seen a kid on one of these harnesses misbehaving, probably because the parent can feel pretty quickly when the kid is jerking around. I don’t see these parents as neglectful; rather I think of them as doing their best to keep up with their kids.
about 2 years ago
I tend to agree with you on this as well. However, I don’t know where to draw the line. I don’t wanna be the crazy one smacking my kid in public, but I don’t wanna be the one that allows madness. So is there a middle ground? I think you had it right by taking them sternly by the arm out to the car. Yeah. I can do that. Thanks for the idea!
about 2 years ago
I did both with my children, they had a so called leash and I spanked them when necessary. My daughter also has the monkey backpack and she spanks when necessary. Sometimes you have to do what is right for your family and say to hell with what the village wants. Because the Village doesn’t always have the families best interest.
Great post Debbie! This would be a great topic for Evo @ 11. Just my opinion.
about 2 years ago
Amen Sista!