Clueless Behavior

12.05.2010

I know that it’s easy for me to say what I’m about to say because I don’t have a kid, that I can pick up and go, and I don’t have to worry about all the little things that come with having a kid. So, having said that, I’m still going to continue writing because I don’t think what I am about to complain about has so much to do with having a kid as it is being the kind of human being one was to begin with (i.e., before the kid).

I really dislike it when parents do or allow for the following:

- letting a child scream his/her head off in the store while continuing to shop as if nothing's wrong.

- allowing the child to eat unpaid for product while shopping. (I used to work at Wild Oats Markets and saw this on a daily basis. It is a health hazard and the store can – and will – get cited and marked down for allowing customers to do this.) It also makes it too easy for the parent to conveniently forget to pay for the product once at the check-out. My “favorite” was this woman who'd come into Wild Oats with her hella spoiled son, allow him to eat the top part of a muffin and then leave the bottom part somewhere hidden in the store for us to find, like it’s a treasure hunt in which we couldn’t wait to partake. If the kid’s hungry, feed him/her before going into the store or use the moment as a teaching tool that it's important to eat something once it's paid for because, before then, it's not yours. It still belongs to the store.

- the next happens especially when a store is swarming with customers: A parent with a kid of about 5 or 6 rides in the shopping cart (for which he/she is too big) and the parent stops in the middle of the path, goes off somewhere while the kid is left behind to kick the air out of boredom or do whatever while totally clueless that there are other customers trying to get by.

Once again, as the parent, you set an example to your kid(s) in how to behave and what’s acceptable or not. We all have to share this world and people appreciate those who share and who are considerate.

"You Have to Be Better..."

10.22.2010

Lately I’ve been contemplating the saying that I often hear from many parents and that is that once you had a kid, you try to be the best person that you possibly could be. Like one of my favorite lines in the movie Away We Go, a woman says about her kids, “You have to be better than you ever imagined.”

I always like to think of myself as already trying to be the best that I can be and I like to tell myself that I certainly don’t need a child to push me to be better. But, as of late, I question those sentiments.

It’s become very easy for me to fall into a lax routine, to come and go as I please and not have to worry about whether or not I’m setting a good example for anyone. And as much I tend to not mind that, when I step outside of my shell, it makes me wonder if I am really being my best when I let things get a little more “slothy” or I don’t push myself to exercise more because all I have is myself. I don’t have to be an example for anyone so why try?

That’s not to say that I haven’t known parents who couldn’t care less about being the best they can be when they have kids. I taught kids with such parents. But I’m taking heed of the comment that I hear from other parents who do take that comment to heart and it makes me wonder if I truly am being as good as I can be.

I’m not saying I have to have a kid to become better. But I think that it becomes easier to be a little lazier in that department because you don’t have to worry about anyone else. There’s no one looking up to you, no one to emulate you and without that I think it’s easier to let part of your personality slip through the cracks.