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Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard

‘Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard’ - Where did this originate?

I wish there hasn’t been such a “turnaround” in our society and our lives that parents allow their children to misbehave in such terrible manners.

After reading the link above, read one of my recent posts on A&E’s website. This is a discussion forum regarding children misbehaving in airports and airplanes. All examples I point to in my post are real.

I’m also a frequent traveller…and while I have every tolerance for the occasional screaming baby (hey, sometimes my ears hurt too!), the 2 year old to 9 year old set can get very annoying.

The worst offenders are the seat-kickers, the whiners (”Mommy, I’m bored”), and the sticky-fingers…. Fortunately, I’m usually able to upgrade into First or Business class and get away from it all, but occasionally, I’m in coach…. My advice? Sit in the LAST row. No one likes sitting in the last row. The only issue then you have to deal with is the bathroom, so then I’d advise sitting on the window seat to avoid the sticky-fingers from getting you as they walk by.

Stay AWAY from bulkhead seating, as frequently the 0 to 2 year old set sit there. Also, only fly on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday…. don’t get on a flight departing after 9 am or arriving before 8 pm. These flights are more apt to have bratty children on them.

But PARENTS, CONTROL YOUR OFFSPRING. I shouldn’t have to go through all this simply to tolerate my flight (flying sucks enough as it is, without getting your bratty kids involved). I’m not asking for a miracle, I’m not even asking for total silence…. I’m asking for you to simply be mindful of your fellow travellers. Your children may be your little bundles of joy, but they are not *MY* little bundles of joy… therefore I don’t enjoy their lollipop stuck to my pants, or their chocolatly fingerprints on the shirt I’m about to wear to that big meeting. Nor do I enjoy the kicking of my seat…. how would you react if I sat behind you and kicked your seat? (Besides, the obvious hilarity of a 28 year old guy kicking your seat)… How about if I whined to the flight attendant that I’m bored? Or, if while she’s talking to someone else, I say “Mommy!…… Mommy!…… Mommy!…..MOMMY!” over and over and over again?

And hey… I’m not the only one who has these issues…. there’s 37 other posts in the same topic. Check this one out….

Posted by KAT20:
If you are going to have children, please be prepared to take 100% responsibility for them. This includes BOTH parents. Otherwise, DON’T HAVE THEM!

I’m tired of hearing every excuse in the book. My mom is a middle school librarian and has had to deal with many parents who tell her that little Susie cannnot possibly have checked out this book or that book or owes a fine. Of course, as is always the case, little Susie will find the book in her locker, backpack, or under the bed a short while later.

Parents need to make sure their children are well rested and have something to occupy their time while in public. Also, it is not good idea to travel to faraway destinations with small children. For example, save the high-end carribean islands for honeymooners and adults. Also, children do not have any idea what the Effiel Tower, Big Ben, the Abby, Tower of London, etc. are or other European historical attractions.

Oh, and this maybe slightly off-topic, but please do not bring small children to graduations. They have no idea what a Masters or PhD is.

Another passenger writes….

Posted by DumbAmerican
I will agree there is no excuse for someone telling a parent how to treat their children but in all fairness some of us just don’t fly once a year while we are on vacation. I live in Phoenix and work near Washington, DC so for the last 6 months I have been flying back and forth between coast’s. I have flown at least 50,000 miles in the last year. After my n’th time of sitting in a middle seat or a window seat trapped by a screaming kid for 3 hours it can be a little nerve racking. Recently I was given a choice going from Dallas to Phoenix; sit in an isle seat next to a 3 year old or sit in a middle seat on a packed plane. That’s like asking “do you wanna be beaten to death or would you rather be stabbed to death?”

But also offers a solution…. maybe I might take him up on this idea…

For those who travel as much or more than I do I have a little secret for you. I collect Hot Wheels cars as a hobby and have some 6,000 of them. I always have extras so I open a few and throw them in my laptop bag when I see a kid near me being restless or bored I hand out a couple of cars. They are cheap, small and if it occupies the kid for a while so I can enjoy the precious time to catch a few zzzz’s it’s worth it.

And the discussion rolled on to possible causes of children misbehaving…. here’s one post that caught my attention….

Posted by Kat20
Responsible parents will put in 100% time and effort into their children’s lives. The reason they misbehave is the need for your attention, which they probably are not getting enough of; this seems to be true in the case of working moms, who generally don’t make the effort to be involved in their children’s lives; it’s not surprising that daycare kids are found to be more agressive. No wonder we have out-of-control kids!

By neglecting their misbehavior, parents are saying that other things are more important than their children.

If their children are important to them, they will make the time and effort.

Then of course, we had the usual “Well, my kids aren’t like that, my kids are well-behaved”, which is usually accompanied with one example from a long time ago when their kids were good once. But then we had one person come back and point this out….

Posted by wakkoflea
Previous posts have pointed fingers at incompetent parents and in the process made it sound like all parents and all children were irresponsible and ill-behaved (which is certainly not the case). As far as the bad eggs go, I think too many parents give children whatever they want to prevent them from crying when they are very little. Then as the children get older they expect treats to accompany bad behavior but some treats or demands are unreasonable to fulfill. So, the single-minded children do whatever they want and the befuddled parents can’t figure out where they went wrong. Maybe if more parents used the word “NO” from day one AND HELD FIRM instead of caving to crocodile tears overall behavior would improve.

Just my theory (but it’s how I was raised and my brothers and I knew how to behave in public).

Wow, this has turned into a huge blog post with all these quotes and little actual content from myself (except for my first rant)….

Well, my point is to all Parents! Teach your children how to behave…. learn to say No and MEAN IT. Don’t let your children walk all over you… you are the parent… BE THE PARENT. We wonder why children are so misbehaved these days…. well it’s from parents who don’t do the job of PARENTING. Parenting isn’t about having sex, popping a kid out and leave it to it’s own devices… it’s about committing a LIFETIME to making sure your child is a capable, productive member of society.

Comments on this blog should definitely be interesting…. keep it clean and I don’t want to hear about YOUR kids, or ONE example…. generalize, as I have. If you can’t do that, your comment really doesn’t contribute….

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