Kids' behavior

[steelyman]

I went to the store today and on my way in from the parking lot I noticed these kids. One tossed up a "Big Gulp" drink in the air.

I yelled "Hey! You want me to help you throw that out?". She said, "Who are you?". I said, "I'm the uncle that's gonna kick your a$$ if you don't fix this".

[rodi]

There are a lot of kids that seem to need a bit more parenting.

My son asked me to take him to a scholastic chess tournament yesterday. (I'm sooooo not pushing him on this - it's his choice, his hobby.)

You'd think with all the tiger parents around there would be well behaved little angels. Not so much.

One girl about age 10 was dropped off by parents (presumably, because I never saw her with any adult but my friend and I.) She left trash behind her where-ever she went. After the 3rd time of her leaving chip wrappers, empty cups, etc when she went in for a match - I called her out on it and made her put it in the bin. I can't imagine my kids just leaving trash for others to pick up.

Another kid kept getting rocks out of this raised tree planter and throwing them around the patio area and even onto the adjacent golf course. Creating tripping hazards, coming close to hitting people. I called him out on it 3 times. You'd think his dad would have noticed/said something. Kid looked at me like I was nuts for correcting him.

My goal as a parent is to have my kids NOT be "those kids".

Perhaps being an older parent I'm less tolerant - but kids need to live within boundaries of decency.

Oh - and get off my lawn! LOL.

[Wishing]

I often run at one of the local school tracks. I am appalled at the amount of trash left by the students. The principal and teachers must look the other way, because it is always a sty. I pick up what I can, but they rarely have a trash can out, and when they do, it's full and usually spewing trash. I wouldn't have ever dreamed of trashing my school. On the other hand, I run in the early morning on weekends and often see parents dumping their trash in the school dumpsters. That's not exactly kosher either.

[Ready]

At the beach I see people smoking cigarettes and dumping the butts in the middle of the street as they are walking. Unfortunately, it's not limited to just the kids. Grown adults do this too. So I don't know if there is an age limit associated with poor manners.

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready At the beach I see people smoking cigarettes and dumping the butts in the middle of the street as they are walking. Unfortunately, it's not limited to just the kids. Grown adults do this too. So I don't know if there is an age limit associated with poor manners.

My condo parking lot has cigarette butts everywhere. It's sickening. Kids with poor manners become adults with poor manners

[gauss]

Many people can be pigs.
-gauss

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready At the beach I see people smoking cigarettes and dumping the butts in the middle of the street as they are walking. Unfortunately, it's not limited to just the kids. Grown adults do this too. So I don't know if there is an age limit associated with poor manners.

My experience is that there is a disconnect among quite a few smokers that cigarette butts are litter. They'd never throw a fast food wrapper on the ground or out a moving car window.... but they do it with cigarette butts. Drives me nuts.

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman I went to the store today and on my way in from the parking lot I noticed these kids. One tossed up a "Big Gulp" drink in the air. I yelled "Hey! You want me to help you throw that out?". She said, "Who are you?". I said, "I'm the uncle that's gonna kick your a$$ if you don't fix this".

Would you tell me the rest of the story, pleeze...?

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Would you tell me the rest of the story, pleeze...?

Oh, they stopped dead in their tracks, came back and picked up the cup while I watched. I said, "Thank you!".

I have a pretty "commanding" voice, but restrained myself from calling her "jackwagon"

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi My experience is that there is a disconnect among quite a few smokers that cigarette butts are litter. They'd never throw a fast food wrapper on the ground or out a moving car window.... but they do it with cigarette butts. Drives me nuts.

I'd say almost all smokers.....it seems they think, (if they do think at all), that once a butt is flicked from their hands it instantaneously dematerializes and becomes one with the cosmos.

[robnplunder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman Oh, they stopped dead in their tracks, came back and picked up the cup while I watched. I said, "Thank you!". I have a pretty "commanding" voice, but restrained myself from calling her "jackwagon"

One for the old geezers, yeah!

I had a similar experience once. These two kids (10ish) were throwing water all over a basketball court in our neighbor park. It was getting slippery with water and my son and I are beginning to slip on it. I "yelled" (my mistake, I should have asked them to stop first) at them to stop which they did. 4 - 5 years later, I see them (now teenagers) around the same park in pack (about dozen of them), smoking, making fun of others playing in the park. One girl lifted her shirt up to show her bra and I immediately took my kid home. I should have called a police before I left.

But these things happen all the time. Parents and kids are not perfect. When I RE, I'd like to settle in an utopia where everyone is behaving well. But, that's just a pipe dream, I know. Sigh.

[Bestwifeever]

Speaking up to young people when their behavior is unacceptable is always a good thing, in my experience (both giving and receiving said comments--enough said). Especially if done in a nice or funny way, the correction can make a difference beyond the incident, you never know. You might be the only adult to show you care even a little bit. Steelyman's litterbug will at least think of him when she has a Big Gulp.

I always said "Hey, language!" if I had little kids with me and I could hear swearing and it wasn't coming out of my own mouth.

[Moemg]

Why do parents let kids go wild ? We were at a birthday party on Saturday & the kids were constantly screaming . I can understand that they were having fun but tone it down a little . They all screamed the birthday song as loud as they could . It was deafening . Last Christmas a few of my SO's grandsons went to the balcony overlooking our main living area & started throwing things off. Their parents finally noticed when they had escalated to heavy toys and hit a lamp.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi My experience is that there is a disconnect among quite a few smokers that cigarette butts are litter. They'd never throw a fast food wrapper on the ground or out a moving car window.... but they do it with cigarette butts. Drives me nuts.

I was walking in the Target parking lot and a cigarette came flying out of a car idling there. I impulsively picked it up and tossed it back inside with a "here you dropped this comment". Damn lucky I didn't get shot.

[scrabbler1]

I remember walking home from the train years ago during my working (gasp!) years and seeing another man ahead of me (who lived in my apartment building) toss a lit cigarette butt away before he entered our building. He carelessly tossed it into a pile of leaves (it was the Fall) and it was a miracle the leaves did not catch fire, endangering parked cars near it in the street. The guy was a walking arsonist, this is how those big forest fires often got started. A few years later, I saw him again and he wasn't smoking so thankfully he probably quit.

[ronin]

I was just walking to the polling place (an elementary school) a half hour ago and it was lunch time. 3 little girls, maybe 6 or 7 years old, were sitting by the fence and as I walked by one of the yelled at me. Not like hello, but like she was mad-dogging me. Little shite. You can imagine what the polling booth inside the cafeteria was like.

You talking to me? You want some of this you little !@$#%^s?

[steelyman]

I have no problem getting in their face (although I don't live in an inner city). I'm a decent size and they back off.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman She said, "Who are you?". I said, "I'm the uncle that's gonna kick your a$$ if you don't fix this".

I'd be terrified that I'd be hauled off for "threatening a minor"...or get sued for "mental trauma to the poor little urchin"

Times are different now and it seems too many are looking for an opportunity to 1) be a victim or 2) sue somebody 3) both A and B.

Then again, depending on the neighborhood, you're lucky her older brother didn't pull out his Glock and put a cap in your a$$.

Ain't worth the litter complaint.

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko Ain't worth the litter complaint.

There's the problem right there. Nothing wrong with teaching manners if you can. No one's going to sue me and win.

[MichaelB]

It's not always other people's kids

We once had a get-together at home (in Venezuela), others there were friends with similar age kids. The conversation (all in Spanish) turned to young children using obscenities, and of course, all the parents insisted that their children all learned those words from school, friends & their parents, the nanny, etc. Never at home. (Of course, they all used those same expressions while making their point)

My 4 year old son walks into the room with a hot dog (no bun) on his plate. Still developing fine motor skills, he didn't keep the plate level and the dog rolled across it and fell off the plate, plopped on the floor. He looked down at it and said, in perfect English, "Oh sh!t!". The group burst out laughing, my best friend made sure to loudly point out that there was no way I could blame that on anyone. Red faced, I acknowledged that even DW (not a native anglophone) had the perfect alibi and DS (and everyone else in the family) had learned the expression and use from me.

At least he used it properly...