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You know, as a kid I used to roll my eyes - a LOT. My Mom can back this claim up. She used to always try and instill in me the importance of manner and respect and I did what she would ask, but usually with my eyes up to the skies. Now that I am a Mom myself, I see why she used to drive that into my skull so much because kids now a days have ZERO respect, manners or empathy for that matter.
My Mom and I took the kids after Color Me Mine to a water splash park near Hyde Park. First let me say that this is a BEAUTIFUL location with lots of space for relaxing, riding your bike, and it is located right off the inlet water, so you can actually take a ferry down from Channelside to this spot. Its just a GORGEOUS park! As we got closer to the splash area, I noticed a LOT of kids. Now I usually try to avoid parks that have a lot of kids around, not because I don't want to socialize, but because most of the time you get parents who literally let their kids run around and do whatever pleases them.
I am all for fun and games. You are a child, you are SUPPOSED to have fun!!! But with that fun comes a responsibility to behave in a certain manner. From the moment we arrived we noticed that there were a LOT of parents like this at this splash park. I make sure my kids wait in lines, take turns, say please, thank you, and excuse me. Has the practice of teaching our children manner dying? Because it sure felt like it!
Especially when the following happened. I was watching the kids run around and play when I noticed Bella, (my 4 year old) get knocked down by a child older than her brother. She got back up and I could tell she wanted to say something to the boy but he ran to the other side of the park area and so she let it go and so did I. About 5 minutes later I see this same boy run back and do the same thing and knock Bella over but this time he hit her so hard from behind that she actually fell forward hard on the concrete. She scrapped her knees, hands and elbow and was NOT happy. Now Bella is my strong, feisty girl. She is quick to say something when she sees an injustice happen. however, I believe she was overworked from the day, (we were on our 10 minute warning) and she ended up just being upset and crying. I went over to help her and the boy was getting ready to run again. I asked him to stop and explained in a very Mommy way that he needs to be careful and watch out for little kids running around and if an accident did happen, it was the right thing to do to stop and help the person you hurt. Now, I know that some people may not like this, but unless you have kids and see this happen to them more times than you wish, you will understand WHY I stopped and corrected his actions.
Parents, we are the voice our children listen to, (most of the time) and we are the ones raising strong, social beings who will grow up and need these manners and empathy in their lives. What bothered me the most out of all of this? I was speaking with this boy for a couple of minutes and not one adult approached me to see what was going on. I don't know about you, but if someone were speaking to my child who I didn't know, I would walk over and find out just what was going on. But thats just my 2 cents. *steps off soapbox*
