Today when I went to lunch, I spotted a prime parking spot at the restaurant I was headed to. As I was pulling into the spot, the door on the van next to me flung open and a kid bounced out in front of me. Since I hadn't noticed the van had occupants, I was moving fairly quickly into my parking spot. I nearly shit a brick, and stopped in time to avoid both door and kid.
It turned out this charming group was headed to the same restaurant I was (I was at a strip mall with several restaurants). As I waited my turn at the restaurant, I noticed that the kid was bouncing off the walls. Literally. Running into a wall, SMACK, heading for another wall, SMACK, ad nauseum.
I wish I was exaggerating.
When I was a kid, such behavior would have warranted a good scolding at a minimum. At worst, we would have left the restaurant and I would have gotten bitched out the whole way home, then sent to my room (which was actually a punishment, because the cool toys were all elsewhere in the house). If I'd flung the door open and hopped out of the car I probably would have gotten instantly dragged back into the car by my shirt or hair, and yelled at for being careless.
The kid was just being a kid, but the parent (and her chum) should have been paying closer attention and, you know, stepping in before the kid leaps out into traffic. If not for the sake of the kid, then at least for the sake of my pants (which were severely strained by the solid gold brick I shat.).
1 comment:
I second the motion! All I know is that all my mother ever had to do for my brother and I to stop horsing around was "the look"... and we would stop instantly!
In what school/lever are parents supposed to learn that look? Because I have also ran a couple of kids, whose parents... lack it!
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