I've written and talked about this before, but was exceptionally annoyed last night while treating my daughter to some ice cream and fun at a local restaurant with play area. We occasionally frequent this site during the day which is comprised of stay-at-home moms and grandparents, a crowd drastically different than the one we experienced after 5pm. And while I understand that working parents find these restaurants convenient after work to quickly feed and keep kids entertained, that does not absolve you from supervising your children. Being too busy texting and Facebooking is not an acceptable excuse. Allowing your child to misbehave at the expense of others is not parenting. We are all tired. The last thing I want to do as a parent, is scold someone else's child and subsequently get into an argument because of it.
With that, I would like to say to the exhausted looking father of four, allowing his children (roughly ages 4-8) to kick and punch younger kids in the play area, put your phone down for two seconds and be a parent. Every adult in the restaurant is biting their tongue not to confront you or your children because it is not our place. But if being glued to your phone makes you too busy to notice, then someone should explain right and wrong to your kids. And I get that children usually work out issues amongst each other, but being outnumbered and standing up to four siblings makes it a bit difficult.
As we continued watching the foursome prevent our kids from sliding, Mr. Too Busy On His Phone had not looked up once despite two sets of parents commenting aloud about the behavior and his children hitting. The real problem is why should we have to punish our kids by leaving because one parent will not be a parent, and we are trying to avoid confrontation? Yes. I am that parent: the nosy observer. It's called parenting, and I need to pay special attention, especially as my daughter goes through the "Mine" stage because she needs to share and give other kids the opportunity to play. As Mr. Too Busy continued on his phone, his four kids would not share or let other children pass to go up and down the play area. They also blocked others from exiting the slide. I watched without saying anything, and noticed that his four-year-old boy in particular was the biggest aggressor. To all the parents' horror, he spit from the top of the play area to the bottom, and as the spit trickled down the side of the play wall, some of the parents could not take it anymore and left. Just when I'd had enough of him pushing and trying to trip my two-year-old who is too oblivious to realize the boy was not playing tag, he punched her with all of his tiny force in her chest as she was moving past him. I jumped up in disbelief to enter the play area and reprimand the boy, but before I was able to get the door open, my little girl in true linebacker form, tackled the living mess out of him! I had to pull them apart as they were going blow for blow, and she certainly made it clear that she would not tolerate him hitting. I guess kids do work things out on their own! There's only so much a person can take, even little people. After separating the two, I sat Layla down to finish her food and advised the father that he may want to get off his phone and watch his kids. I am not judging him. Actually, I am. Say something to your kids before others have to.
-Leslie Osmond
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