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Blogs by Stephanie S. Sawyer
An Obstacle Too Big for Me 8/23/2008 11:44:40 AM
There is one subject matter that I am having great difficulty with... I try to keep my website positive, and I try to keep it uplifting as much as I can, but there is one subject matter that I am having great difficulty with. I simply don't know how to address it without getting on my soapbox and sounding utterly judgmental. That may not be such a bad thing in this instance.
Last week, I was going over this one subject matter with a manager of a grocery store here in Tomball, and she beseeched me to write about it. I've thought about that and have only stopped for the sake of sounding mad. How to do this in a positive light such as I do with my piano students is beyond me in this matter. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to write. Here goes:
I am sick and tired of the lack of manners seen in children today as they wildly run up and down store aisles with no regard to anyone but their own playtime. In addition, they take public places such as restaurants and cafes, and turn them into playgrounds with their wild antics at the dinner table. Loud voices, arms and limbs thrown all around, and even running up and down the aisles is so common that it is shameful.
What happened to the society that cared about other people around them in regards to conscientiousness? It seems to have vanished with mothers going to work and leaving daycares to raise their children. Oh! No! I've hit a hard button. Yet, it seems that that is about the turn when all this decline of moral and ethical treatment began to be noticed.
Today, I can hardly go into a grocery store, a department store, a restaurant, a drug store, or any public place that allows family members without being run into by some wild child who is soaring around with no adult attempting to control and direct his behavior. Today, the standard seems to have dwindled so low that it now stands that the parent actually encourages this blantant behavior so disregarding of other people.
Last night at a deli in which my husband and I were partaking a late meal, two boys, preteen and teen, were wildly throwing their limbs around, loudly voicing their silliness, then began running up and down the sidewalk just outside the deli window. This completely blew away my chance to enjoy my meal since their proximity was so close. Why were they treating the deli as a playground? Where were Mom and Dad? They were sitting in the same booth just opposite my husband and I totally ignoring the entire out-of-bounds behavior.
It is utterly beyond me, and I can only be deeply saddened at the demise of our culture that this has become a regular standard. I cannot accept this blantant disregard for other people who are thrown off balance by running children, cannot hear their conversations for the loudness of shouting children, and are held at bay by the rude behavior of disregarding families as they expect other society members to adjust to their wild ways of life.
Please! People!
Pay attention! Please take hold of your children once more, and bring some manners and conscientiousness back into our world. It will only make the world a safer and more genuine place for considering other people. Being mindful of others is the first course of a parent in teaching a child how to interact with the public in general well being. Please consider what you are doing in letting your children run wild.
