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RE: Tales From the Cash Register
Ahh, people. You've gotta love them, but try not to let them know you're laughing at them!
Neglectful parents are a pet peeve of mine. I sometimes wonder how long these children would last if we were still living in a tribal situation. You can't even discipline them yourself because you risk the parents having a go at you for telling their child off. I loved a sign I saw in a restaurant once which said: unattended children will be given a shot of espresso and promised a puppy.
Looking forward to reading more Tales From the Cash Register.
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If we were still living in a tribal situation, the whole tribe would be able to discipline the kids. Other parents could discipline kids when we were kids; or at least that was true in the 80s in New Jersey where I was. The parents on the block were the parents on the block. When my parents were kids - my dad used to get into a lot of trouble. He actually belonged to a gang in Brooklyn when he was a kid. But his dad was a cop. When the cops caught him running bets for mafia bookies? They didn't take him to jail. They took him to his dad.
Honestly, this loss of "tribe" in modern life I think is fairly new and really damaging. In this kid's case, he was perfectly fine with me - it was his parents who were in need of a time out. I didn't blame him at all for wandering off and entertaining himself. He was seven, and they were in a big warehouse hardware store full of sharp and heavy objects - they frikkin' needed to watch their kid!
I know you know that, I'm just ranting at the wind.
But yeah, I think honestly it's more the modern world that puts these kids at risk because the tribe can't do anything about it, or is afraid to. And parents who are good parents and do things that were perfectly common in our childhood, like let your kids walk to school by themselves or play outside on the block without constant supervision - they get CPS called on them for being neglectful. It's no wonder the kid had no self restraint in a world where OMG he's riding bikes outside with his friends and his mom is inside cooking dinner call the authorities! I doubt many kids learn age-appropriate self direction anymore. It's kinda like setting them loose in the jungle, only instead of snakes and cold in this case the danger was wood stacks and shelves. Like, I played outside with my friends and no grown-ups all the time at that age, but when I was in the store with mom or dad I was their "helper" getting things off the shelf or putting them in the cart. Because age-appropriateness. And I loved the hardware store as a kid, because the smell of sawdust is glorious. LOL. My dad was not an attentive parent by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn't let me die in the lumberyard, either.
/rant
And yeah - I have a button that says "unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten." Ha ha ha ha!
We know we're getting old when we start saying, "when I was a child" 😆
You're so right in your rants, though. Things have changed so much in such a short time.
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Ah ha, that's changed, too. When my mom turned 40, she got "over the hill" themed gag gifts. I still get treated like a child, and I turned 40 in August.
For clarity, I get infantalized in general, not particularly by my mom. LOL
I wonder if that's a mindset because you're not "married with a family" as still seems to be expected. Spinsters and bachelors do seem to be treated differently. Not that it's a bad thing of you still enjoy the more childish things in life. Why grow up if you don't have to. ;D
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Probably. I don't have any of the traditional markers of adulthood - spouse, kids, house, money. But I despise being treated as a child. I hated most of the childish things when I was a child. I have always wanted a house, but could never afford one. I just don't want to breed. This clusterfuck of genes dies with me, thankyouverymuch. ;)