Children in restaurants....

If there is one thing that is extremely annoying, and in my top 10 Pet Peeves, it is an unruly kid in a restaurant.  Right behind that is their parents.  A child having a temper tantrum, running through the eatery, throwing food, standing on the chairs, you name it, will surely send my blood pressure into the outer limits.  

As I watch these heathens reek havoc on the surrounding patrons, I also watch the parents who either choose to ignore this behavior (evidently in the hopes they will stop), or they make some half assed attempt at dicipline ( I use that term extremely loosely).  "Now honey, we don't throw food across the room"..."sweety, please stop, please?".....or my favorite, while they are laughing "now really, do we have to do this?"  WTF????  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  

I'm not the perfect parent by any means.  However, I will say that my 10 year old has known how to behave in a restaurant since before he was 2.  In all of his short 10 years of existance, I personally have only had to swat his hand or butt less than half a dozen times.  And honestly, it wasn't anything that inflicted pain, but it was the element of surprise.  Follow that up with the look of complete and unwavering seriousness, and POOF....the child knows not only who is boss, but knows not to repeat the action again.  And the best part is, one day, this ability to listen and do what he is told immediately, could save his life.

Here is the problem as I see it.....parents (if you want to call them that) have bought into the new age idea, (I call it a fad idea) that there is a kinder, gentler way of raising children.  Somehow some idiot has managed to publish a book on how to talk to children, and the power of persuasion....the 'no hit' method.  Ok, ok, now lets back up a step or 2.

I am a product of an abusive childhood.  Yes, both of my parents were mentally and physically abusive.  HOWEVER I made a choice when when I had my son that I was not going to continue their behavior.  I made a CHOICE.  Just like the other 'parents' did.  I believe that children want and need guidence, they want and need dicipline, and they want and need to know where the boundaries are, with clear definition.  There should be no grey area, and they should know that if they are told once, and make a concious choice to disobey, then the resulting consequences will be swift and sure.  No wavering, no stalling.  Immediate and with authority.  Children today know that if they have a tantrum that mom or dad won't do a thing but give them what they want because they don't want to cause a scene, or raise a child that might be disappointed for a minute or 2...not to mention all the video happy assholes who think they need to tape everything they see and then publish it on the internet screaming about how the star of the show (the parent) is abusive and should not be allowed to have children.  What they don't realize is they have created a generation of bratty, spoiled know-it-alls who have know idea what it means to be disappointed, or to earn a spot on the team based on skill, or how to WORK (gods forbid) for that car, cell phone, ipod, or whatever.  

No, I do NOT agree with abuse.  Why would I?  I believe in education, guidence, and life lessons.  How else will they deal with the big, bad world?  We are creating kids who won't know how to deal with failure, or loss.  We are creating job security for all of the head doctors, because every one of these kids will be in therapy because someone told them NO and they can't handle it.  Not to mention these kids will be the ones taking care of us when we get old.....do we really want a bunch of germaphobic, lazy, bratty, unruly adults wiping our asses and purreeing our pees?  I don't know about you, but I hope I don't live long enough for that to happen, because quite honestly, I don't trust your kids.