Thursday, February 15, 2007

13 Places Your Little Hellion Child Shouldn't be Allowed to Go(TT #2)

Disclaimer--I LOVE kids and hope to have one of my own some day, but I've noticed a trend of "anything goes" as far as how kids act and it's obnoxious. Teach your kids right from wrong and don't expect the general public to think they're as cute as you think they are. Misbehaved kids aren't cute. Sorry!


13 Places Your Little Hellion Child Shouldn't be Allowed to Go


1. Wal-Mart- Wal-mart is not a playground. I shouldn't have to trip over your tantrum-throwing child to get a can of Cream of Chicken soup. Please secure your little tax deduction in the buggy at all times if you can't teach them to behave.
2. Weddings- One of the most recent weddings I went to sounded like a daycare. The couples' wedding video was ruined by all of the crying and fit-throwing. The audio on it is completely unintelligible. Nobody wants to hear that for an hour. Nobody.
3. Funerals- Just experienced this yesterday, sadly. Two year olds cannot be expected to behave themselves at a funeral. You're not doing anyone any favors by bringing them along...especially when the deceased didn't even know the little hellion. And for the record, it's not cute when your kid yells out "Yay!" every time a new hymn is sung. At least not to the rest of us.
4. "Big Church"- Most churches have a nursery. If your kid is stomping around and making a lot of noise during church, he's either too young to be in big church or he needs more discipline in his life. Maybe you do too.
5. The Theatre- I don't care how sophisticated you think your "little darling" is, a one year old cannot be expected to sit through Cirque du Soliel without making everyone else's evening miserable. Why would you think otherwise?
6. Amusement Parks- These places are loud anyway, so I don't really care if people bring their bad kids to amusement parks, but I do think it's silly when parents take their toddlers to Disney World. Your kid might like Mickey Mouse cartoons, but they're going to be scared to death of the life-size characters. Plus, you've just dropped thousands of dollars on a vacation that your kid won't remember. Congratulations.
7. Airplanes- Nobody wants to be stuck in a big metal tube soaring through the sky with your kid kicking the seat the whole way and screaming. Maybe you should have driven to your destination instead and put the kid in the back seat where he could have kicked YOUR seat the whole way.
8. Nice Restaurants- I hope this is self-explanatory.
9. Anywhere Unattended in Public- It is not the general public's responsibility to watch your child for you.
10. The Street- My driveway is on a steep incline and when I'm backing out onto the street, I can't see very short people standing behind my car. Of course, I'm not sure why my neighbors let their two year old play in the street unattended anyway. Maybe they're trying to collect insurance money.
11. The Movies- Get a baby sitter if you're not taking your kid to an age-appropriate movie.
12. The Library- For some reason, people around here drop off their middle-school aged kids at the library to hang out. They race eachother around inside the library and are very loud and obnoxious. The library is not a baby-sitting service.
13. My House- It's not cute for your kid to come into my house and break things. Especially when the kid is old enough to know better and you're just watching him pick stuff up and break it and aren't telling him to stop. It's not my job to discipline your child, but if you let your child act like a mental patient in my home, one of you is probably going to hear a little something about it.


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14 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi! First time visiting your blog, and a first time Thurs. 13 player, too! I love your list. We don't have kids, either, and we complain about them acting inappropriate everywhere we go. We're like you, too - kids someday (well, maybe) - but that doesn't mean you want to see kids acting bratty everywhere you go! I especially agree with you about kids at funerals & weddings. When we got married, we didn't allow any kids other than the ones in our wedding party, which we handpicked so we knew they'd behave, and none of them were little. The youngest was 8.

Shannon said...

Amen to weddings and funerals!
Happy T13.

Jane said...

I agree with you about nice restuarants. I can't stand to go out to a nice place and have kids screaming. Especially annoying if it is late and you have every reason to think that little kids should be in bed. It is unreasonable and unfair to expect small children to behave in some situations and that is why they act up. The children aren't spoiled, the parents who aren't taking care of the children's needs and developmental capabilities are.

Unfortunately when we have kids we will need to travel with them on planes. Our family is all on the other coast. I dread that!

Mandy said...

My earliest memory is from a trip to Disneyland when I was three years old. I remember only one thing: The Bear Country Jamboree. Freaked. Me. Out. I cried and I screamed. Not a good memory.

This is a great ranting post. Another thing that irritates me is parents who drop their kids off at church before their class starts and assume the adults who are hanging around will watch them and make sure they behave themselves. And then they get irritated at their kids for not being responsible? What the heck. So help me, I will never be guilty of this. If I want a babysitter, I will hire a babysitter. Geez.

Mary said...

I agree with most of those especially #13... Why is it that I have to turn a blind eye just because someone elses kids are visiting? Why wont you say something if you see that your kid is being mean to mine (then stand there like an idiot after your kid pokes mine in the eye with a toy broom, just because he is mad that WE told him to knock it off because YOU wouldn't), or that your kid is practically strangling my cat?

Bah! Anyway... O) Happy Thirteen!

Anonymous said...

Amen to each and every item! Misbehaved children get on my nerves, and I can't fathom why anybody would think misbehavior is "cute." You'll make a great mom someday! :)

Happy TT to you, and thank you for visiting my blog!

Caylynn said...

Great list! I agree with you 100%. I understand that sometimes parents do have to bring children on planes (when flying overseas for instance) but they should really keep them from kicking the seat in front of them. Another place children shouldn't be allowed: the workplace, unless it's "take your child to work" day. If you kid is too sick to go to school, he or she is too sick for you to bring into work, spreading germs around the office!

Toebee's Fumes said...

Great post! I had to link you on this one. Way to true on most except I agree with Caylynn about the planes.

do you think most parents realize how much their kids are driving everyone else around them crazy? I am thinking "NO".

We had an experience once during the Passion of the Christ. There was this young kid running around up front of the theater. If that was not bad enough the kid had on a pair of sneakers with the red flashers lighting up. Christ is being sacrificed and all I can think of is strangling the father of the kid. Take him out, or best don't bring him back. Try this brand new service you may not have heard of called Rentals.

Kudos on the post!

Mercy's Maid said...

Caylynn,

I actually meant to mention the kids in the workplace thing, but I forgot! Yes, if they're too sick for daycare, they're too sick to come to the workplace. It also bugs me when people dope their kids up on tylenol to artificially bring a fever down so they can take their kids to daycare. Totally inconsiderate!

Qtpies7 said...

I agree that there are some places kids should not go. But I also think some people who don't have kids need to learn some patience. You can have super-well-behaved children, and then you go to Walmart for the millionth time and they have a fit, come to find out they are coming down with an ear-infection or whatever. If you are on a plane, you are on public trasportation, you get what you get, its public. But, as a very, very strict mom, I would not allow my child to kick someone's seat. Crying from painful ears can't be helped, and sometimes you HAVE to fly. I can't drive from Germany to Minnesota.
I've learned all this from saying what you've said, then having kids, lol. You learn that not all bad children are bad children with horrid parents. Sometimes there are good kids with good parents who have a bad day.
One time one of my kids walked up to my friends glass door and kicked it. We disciplined him, of course, but my friend said "I would never let my kid kick a glass door." I laughed at her, like I "let" him do it, hehe, you'll get yours, sisuh! She did!
Be careful what you criticize!

Carina said...

I'm more or less with qtpies 7 on this one. I can't stand the sound of screaming children, mine or other people's, but the fact is that sometimes kids have bad days just like grown ups, and you can be a great parent without being omniscient. There are definitely some places kids shouldn't go, but also sometimes when you have no other option.

Mercy's Maid said...

Yeah, I'm not saying that kids shouldn't go on planes under any circumstances, but other passengers shouldn't have the be the ones to ask the parents to reign in the child (this happened on my last flight--after I gave up my seat so the family could sit together and then they let their child kick the back of my seat the whole way).

Every kid has a bad day and every parent has a bad day, but there are people who just don't care how their kids act and THAT's what bugs me.

There was a little kid at my parents' house yesterday who actually flipped their recliner over, while the parents were watching, was hopping around all over the place bumping into elderly people while the parents watched and did nothing, and instead of having the kid eat in the kitchen where the resulting mess could be cleaned up easily, they put them on a carpeted area and let them eat at the coffee table. Then they didn't bother to clean up the disasters that happened from that. This is consistently the case with the parents of these kids.

Then the mom didn't take them out into the foyer when they were acting up during the funeral.

Stuff like that is what I'm talking about. I can't think of any reason why that's acceptable.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more on your whole entire list, but especially restaraunts and movie theaters.

I can understand movie theaters if the movie playing something like a Disney cartoon, but seriously, why would anyone bring a baby not yet old enough to walk on its own to a horror movie? Oh yes, I have witnessed this.

Great TT!

Anonymous said...

I used to think the same things....I hated being anywhere where kids created problems. But now that I have one of my own, I have learned that kids are problems EVERYWHERE you go LOL. I can't help but WANT to take Joshie with me to a restaraunt :( Only because I like to include him in everything I do...he is my life after all. However, if I am going to Olive Garden, I know dang well not to take him there...so I opt for Micky D's or something -.- grrr. McDonalds is NOTHING comapred to Olive Garden.....so it's the life I have live now...
I DEFINATELY do not take him to the movies yet! My mother-in-law wanted to take him to see Cars when it came out. He wasn't even a year old then! How stupid can you get!
I used to hate it when I was in a store with someone and their screaming hellion child...and now I have one. O_O So now it's either shop and have everyone mad at you for having a crying, screaming child....or spank him and listen to him cry anyway....and still have everyone mad at you. LOL I can't win!