So I asked Ralph about being a child... and having German parents... and going shopping. I asked what would have happened if he started whining and saying, "gimmy dat, gimmy dat, gimmy dat" loud enough for others to hear. He said that his mother made it clear that they weren't going to get anything and so they pretty much never asked.
That's what I remember, too.
I remember my parent's pride when they were complimented on how well-behaved their little girls were... But that's not about me... the child...it's about them. They had standards and they expected things of us.. manners, patience, inside voices.
We kept out hands in our pockets in fancy stores. We acted like ladies at dinner tables. We did not raise our voices in stores, we never demanded and if we whined, my parents took us home because it meant that we were tired.
So I mention this because I find myself shushing other people's children. Telling them to knock off their crying and stop acting like brats. Telling the parents that they should be ashamed. I realize that some times you're tired and you have no options and the kids are tired and they have no resources... but I watch parents do exactly the wrong thing over and over. And the thing is, I don't want to hear it.
So forgive me if I'm cross with you for letting your child take things off the shelf and leave them on the floor. Don't be surprised if I glare at you while your child demands a treat over and over. And thank me when I reprimand your child for forgetting his manners. It is my business. I am the villiage. And I will have to hire that child one day, or in my case, help him or her find a job.
Manners matter.
And if it doesn't start to get better soon, I will have to enlist Oprah in the fight. Don't make me bring out Oprah.
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