Good Parents Don't Allow Their Children To Scream In Public!

Something that I regularly see happening in our society truly disturbs me. It's parents who allow their children to scream bloody-murder in public. The reason this annoys me goes way beyond the piercing high-pitched temper tantrums that create a lingering buzz inside the ears of all who felt obligated to listen to it until they could escape from the restaurant, grocery store check-out or wherever else the little monster was throwing his/her fit.

It's simply NOT in the child's best interest for parents to allow them to make loud noises in public. PUBLIC TANTRUMS TEACH CHILDREN:

• Social ineptness (completely disregarding the feelings of others means the child will have difficulty maintaining lasting friendships and/or excelling later in career)
• Bad manners (People adore well-behaved children and respond with good mojo to those that act with decorum. Spoiled brats, however, just generate a lot of negative juju all the way around and that social feedback is damaging to the child!)
• Selfishness (teaching no self control or personal restraint means the child will seriously lack personal initiative and responsibility later in life).

PARENTS WHO ALLOW THEIR CHILDREN TO SCREAM IN PUBLIC ARE ALSO:

• Socailly inept (not realizing other people have a right NOT to hear your brat scream)
• Rude (good manners requires teaching your children to behave in public. A good parent also sets the example for treating others with kindness and courtesy.)
• Selfish and lazy. Being a good parent takes work. It sometimes means you must walk your screaming child out to the car until s/he settles down. Being allowed to mingle in public is a privilege and children should be taught such!

Hopefully those parents who think they are just allowing their children to "express themselves" by misbehaving in public will instead learn to give that child a paint-brush. Let art, music, singing and dance be the modes most encouraged for self expression. Bad behavior just hurts everybody and helps not a soul.

The time to be your child's friend is when that child is an adult and fully independent. While you are raising a child, your highest obligation as a parent is to GUIDE and protect them (from the limits of selfishness as well as from potentially dangerous strangers). To help a child see the big picture, to consider how others around them feel, THAT is the parent's responsibility. Teaching such will help a child soar through adolescence and young adulthood.