Parenting: What would YOU do?

[oxydolfan1]

"....it isn't any better here either...."

Oh, no, it can't be worse than New York. I just can't imagine it!!!

 

[lightedcontrols]

Well.....

....my mother would have busted my ass, sat me down hard in the seat, and the whole matter would have ended right there. Mark

 

[dalangdon]

My folks weren't spankers, although mom used to threaten us with the dreaded Craftsman yardstick occassionaly ;-) Usually "the look" was enough to get us to settle down.

I do remember one time I was being a brat in church, and my dad took me to the back of the church to get me calmed down. That didn't work, and he gave me a swat on the thigh (I was wearing shorts) The swat made a huge sound that echoed through the church, and everyone turned around to look at us. I, of course, played it up, sobbing and carrying on. Bernhardt couldn't have done it better, LOL.

After that, when I misbehaved in church, I would get taken to the car.

 

[jeb]

disiplining children

I also thing the airline was more than generous. We would have never been aloud to behave like the three year old. My mother carried a wooden spoon in her purse, I don't ever remember her using it (she might have before memory kick in) but we had a very health respect for that spoon. If I had been that three year old, one look at that spoon and I would have been in that seat, buckled, and behaving correctly. I think having respect (and a little fear) of parents is much better in the long run than being you parent's 'friend'.To this day I have a very good relationship with my parents.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I remember a letter in Ann Landers' column years ago about a horrible, misbehaving family in a restaurant. Diners complained to the manager. Shortly thereafter, the manager came to the offending family with take-out boxes. He explained that they had prepared fresh versions of their meals for them to take home, then asked them to leave and not come back until their children knew how to behave in a restaurant. As they left, the rest of the diners applauded. More than once, I have been in a restaurant where some people come in with a baby and are seated near me after I had been seated. They want to talk to each other and eat. The baby is ignored and protests. I have the wait person bring the manager over and I request to be moved away from the noise. I am not embarrassed. I am not the one making the noise. I would not tolerate it in my home and I am not going to tolerate it in a place where I have to pay to eat.

We also learned early on that there was to be no whining and crying at home or in public when we wanted something we could not have. We were told ahead of time why we were going shopping, what was being purchased and that we were not to ask for anything extra. My mother did not need to take us through a candy-free check out.

We behaved because we had no options. If you did not behave, you got it from your parents and I am not talking time outs either. Spankings hurt. We were afraid to misbehave because of what we knew would happen to us. Many of today's kids are not afraid of their parents or any authority figure and that is not good.

 

[dalangdon]

Jeb, I loved that your Mom carried a wooden spoon in her purse! I think my Mom's purse was packed full of Kleenex - she was always handing it out