Mothers, be accountable for what you teach your children!
When I see a parent acting in a way that is less than admirable in front of their child(ren) I get fired up. Part of me wants to give them a good slap upside their head in the hopes that it will knock some sense into them. No, I am not a parent but that doesn’t really matter. And before any parents come back at me challenging my perspective, what I am about to say is more than valid. I call it like I see it, and any responsible parent should be able to see the logic in my complaint. With that said…
Last weekend I went to see “Avatar” in IMAX 3D. By the way, absolutely great film, but that’s a different story. Given that it was opening weekend and the first two nights we tried to see it we turned away because tickets were sold out, we played it smart and bought tickets early. Well not completely. We went to see the 6:30 show, of course it was sold out, so we bought tickets for the 10:15 showing. We killed some time shopping, had dinner, then headed back to the theater more than an hour early in order to get good seats, thinking we’d beat the crowd. We were wrong. A nice-sized line had already begun to form itself in the lobby of the theater. At the front of the line, some kids had obviously been camped out for several hours; a few I recognized from the ticket line from the 6:30 showing. We chuckled about the whole thing and then joined the line ourselves.
A nice family got into line directly behind us, the mother and I even joked about the line and our shared plot to secure good seats by arriving early. Finally, right around 10:00 the theater staff opened the doors and started to let us in. A collective feeling of happiness filled the air as we all prepared to see the highly anticipated film. As we moved forward, a family of about 5 somehow eased their way into the line behind us. And by ease I mean outright cut in front of the people that were behind us. I looked back, shook my head, and exchanged a comment with my date.
The skippers consisted of a mother, what might have been a father, a teenage boy, and 3 younger children. The mother was obviously the ringleader of this particular deebo move. The victims, the family behind us, consisted of a mother, father, son and daughter. The father, who was rightfully disgusted with the woman spoke up and pretty much told her he didn’t appreciate her actions. Instead of showing the least bit of remorse, she starts a back and forth argument with the man defending her actions. Her excuse, she bought tickets the day before and didn’t feel she should have to wait in the long line with everyone else.
She was loud and wrong. I just looked at her with disgust. Here she was acting like a complete jerk in front of her children, and she was completely fine with that. Being who I am, as she continued to argue with the man, I made some comments to my date expressing my disapproval of her actions, purposefully loud enough for her to hear, and I know she did. Part of me was embarrassed by her actions and embarrassed for her even though I’m sure she wasn’t embarrassed for herself in the least bit. And yes, I called her parenting skills into question. Passive aggressive? Absolutely and I’m not ashamed to say it. She definitely heard me because apparently she was shooting me dirty looks.
Her kids didn’t seem the least bit phased or embarrassed; almost as though this was behavior they were used to. They probably looked at her and thought “go ahead Mama!” But as a mother, should that really be what you want your children to see? Is this the type of behavior as a parent what you’d want your children to grow up believing is appropriate? Does she even realize that through her actions she could be teaching her children to be as big a jackass as she was?
I’m sorry people, but some of you parents need to step it up and take your job seriously. There is NOTHING anyone can say to convince me her actions were warranted. Fine, she was frustrated and didn’t want to wait in the long line. Then take your family to see the film during a matinee showing when the crowds are lighter. Or don’t go during opening weekend. Sometimes I wish people were required to earn a license to parent. If I need a license to drive or carry a firearm, then you need to prove you’re capable of proper parenting.
I need some parents out there to please comment and weigh in.
I am not a parent yet and as someone who worked in the public school system for a few years, I have seen this type of behavior over and over. I realized that while people are responsible for their actions and there is no excuse for ridiculous behavior, there are some people (parents) that simply don’t know any better. They are a product of so much (environment, family upbringing, values, etc.) and while it may be easy to point the finger and say “they shoulda” and “I woulda”, we then engage in another back and forth and miss an opportunity to reach out and demonstrate that there is another way to behave and hopefully allow them to see their “destructive” behavior from another perspective.
We teach our children by our actions. Those kids will grow up with a sense of entitlement and believe that they can do whatever they please.