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Parenting 101: Setting Right And Terrible Examples

parent parenting naughty children

(There are parents who have a bad influence on their children whilst there are others who opt to do nothing when their kids misbehave. In both situations, they are nothing but bad parents. Image source: http://www.reviewjournal.com)

Pathetic on how some adults act like children in front of their children!

Yesterday I took the family shopping and we realized that there was a clown (I meant professional clown) in the middle, giving away free balloons (the one that can be sculpted into various shapes).

I asked my son whether he wanted a balloon as well but he at first refused to go (I suspected he was nervous with the clown. He had a bad experience with them once).

But the more he sees other children getting interesting shaped balloons, he quickly changed his mind and braved himself (we standing next to him helped too). We walked towards the clown as he was busy making shaped balloons and taking time off to take snapshots with the kids.

We reached the place and we heard the clown keep saying – “one line please!” and any kids who decided to cut queue was promptly asked to go back and line up for their balloons.

I got my son queue up and he impatiently waited for his turn for the balloon (he wanted a sword-shaped balloon) and snapshot with the clown.

As we waited, a lady with two small kids jumped the queue and walked all the way to the front and to everyone’s surprise, asked, no, demanded the balloons (demanded to be given to her own kids, over the other kids who been patiently waiting for their balloons).

Thankfully the clown did not give way and insisted them to go back and line up just like everyone else. The lady however ignored this and continued to stand at the front and keep asking for the balloons and the poor kids keep looking at the lady (perhaps they wondered who is the children in this situation?).

The clown continued to ignore her and only give balloons to those who lined up.

After long and seeing the lady’s kids standing rather innocently (and perhaps having enough of the lady’s nagging and interruptions), the clown did a quick sculpt and passed the balloons to the lady’s kids.

Unfortunately, that did not drive the nasty lady away – she saw what other kids got and decided that the sculpture that the clown did for her kids was not good enough and insisted for the clown to do another one for her kids.

This time, the clown had to put his big foot down (literally) and insisted them to queue up (without frightening the small kids of course). Other parents who were not amused with the antics of the lady (including yours truly) decided that enough is enough and started to make noise too. That helped to get rid of the lady from the area.

I wondered what kind of examples that this lady is setting for her kids? That queues jumping and demanding things from other people is good?

That reminded me of another incident that happened when I was very young and when I followed my grandma to the local post office to pay some bills. It was unfortunate that particular day, only one counter was open and there was a long queue.

One of the persons queuing up is a lady who had brought 3 kids – super hyperactive ones.

They were running around the post office and were shouting aloud, much to irk of other people in the post office. It did not take long for the post office staff behind the counter to stand up and told the lady to control her kids. He asked – is this how she had taught her kids?

Something amazing then happened – the lady called her kids to come over and when they stood in front of her, she gave them a strong slap each and told them to sit down quietly at a corner. Thereafter, the post office became quiet and peaceful.

Back then, parents still worried about making sure their kids acted and carried themselves in the right way. Some of the current parents simply too thick-skinned to understand that things they do and say influences their kids and in turn instil the same negative elements in them.

As I looked at the lady who jumped the queue and insisting on the balloons for her innocent kids, I wondered whether she realizes what she is doing by setting bad example to her kids?

Just how many of the parents these days set bad examples to their children by doing the wrong things and saying the wrong words (one good reason why I don’t curse at others when my son is sitting in the car)? How many of the parents decide to keep silent and opt not to correct the mistake of their children?

Food for thought for parents and parents to be…

4 thoughts on “Parenting 101: Setting Right And Terrible Examples”

  1. Inevitably everyone comes across these kind of people at one point of their lives… But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt about wrongdoings and acts of selfishness is, what goes around comes around… Cudos for doing the right thing and not just the easy thing; succumbing to anger…

    PS: a new follower, Hdaran

  2. Now we have parents (fathers and mothers) bringing home boyfriends and girlfriends, when their spouses aren’t home, in full view of their children and some also watch pornography at home when their children are in the house. That’s why now there are secondary school students caught having sex in school and the worse case we know that are happening is baby dumping!

    Some parents don’t even know how to bring up their children properly.

    Who’s fault is this?

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