Kids These Days

Tonight we went to a community theater production of "Forever Plaid". I had never seen it before....didn't even know what it was about. Hubby and I had a good time...the show was cute. Not great - it was Community Theater after all - but it was fun. We brought our own wine and popcorn, saw some old friends, and enjoyed the show and the music. There was, however, one thing I did not like. Someone brought their toddler. Why do people do that? Why do they think it's okay to bring an 18 month old to an adult production and keep them up until at least 10:00? And why do they think everyone else in the theater wants to hear their child babbling away during the most sentimental scene in the show? The little girl was actually pretty well-behaved. She didn't cry, scream or run around. But she obviously had no interest in the show, and her parents spent the whole night appeasing her, feeding her, walking her, and doing whatever was humanly possible to keep her quiet. Do they think she's just so darn cute that no one else will mind? Well.......I did. And I paid for my ticket to be there. I'm sure there were other young couples there who had paid a babysitter so they could go out for an adult evening, and instead they had to listen to someone else's child. ugh! We had a Dad come into our office today with his little boy who was about 3. Dad was getting some maps and tourbooks and the little boy wanted something too, so my boss gave him a Disney brochure. Dad says, "say thank-you" and the little boy would not. Dad repeated it a few times and the little boy just ignored him. Finally, Dad said, "If you don't say thank-you, we will give the book back." I thought - Oh boy - Dad's setting himself up. To my surprise, he followed through. Dad took the book and gave it back, which of course made the little boy start screaming. Dad picked him up and carried him outside. Despite the fact that it made us uncomfortable, and I think it made my boss feel kind of bad that her nice gesture turned into a fiasco, I think Dad did the right thing. He made a threat, and he followed through. What was great was - a few minutes later the door opens and it's Dad and son. Dad says, "I think he had a change of heart" and the little boy said, "thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you". That must have been SOME discussion in the car! The little boy got his book........and a very good lesson from a very smart Dad.