I Know It's Hard But Try To Get A Grip

Went to Starbucks today - not so much to get coffee as to avoid work. And, I was tempted to go back to work! There was only one person in front of me but, still, I waited in line for 15 minutes. I'm not that patient, usually. And, I recognized that I didn't even really want a cup of coffee all that much. (Is there a 12-step program for this? As in, Al-Have-Another-Cuppa-Joe-anon?) I almost gave up but I'm no quitter! (I'll let you figure out what I'm talking about here.)

She had four kids running about the place: two girls, who were older, and two boys. She was careful to order drinks without sugar but didn't seem to mind the amount of caffeine her kids were getting. (I was once in a Subway restaurant when a boy asked his daddy if he could have a Coke. Daddy said, no - have a Mountain Dew. . .)

I'm sitting in the sun and getting drowsy so stick with me. . . .

What I noticed while I was waiting is how these people interacted with each other - this woman and her children. (Daddy was in the truck in which these poeple had spent considerably more time than is generally recommended for a family of six, the woman informed me. Good for Daddy, I thought.) They were rude to each other.

I found several instances of this type of behavior when we were in Disneyland, recently. Parents behaved badly with their badly behaving children. (It's a small world after all . . .)

Mother to son: You will eat this peanut butter sandwich or you will not go on any more rides!

Sure. You're going to bring your entire family to Disneyland, pay a thousand bucks to get in the joint (at which entrance is a sign posting the dangers that the building materials used to construct said happy place could kill you at the eye level of a ten-year-old, not to mention the rides) and hinge the whole deal on a peanut butter sandwich.

Be nice to your kids!

Listen, I get it. I wasn't always nice to my kids. I can still hear all the terrible things I ever said to them and I will regret every word. I am a much better grandparent than I ever was as a parent. That probably has to do with the fact that grandparenting isn't a full time job (generally speaking).

But if it's terrible to listen to what you're saying when I'm standing in line at Starbucks just think about how horrible it is to listen to if you're your kid.