When Toddlers Attack!

Before I start, I have to say...I love children.  They're adorable and fun and I can't WAIT for my Sprog to show up.

That being said - some parents really piss me off.  To the point where I want to take them and shake them.  Violently.

Let me rewind a little.  My parents raised me and my siblings to be incredibly polite children.  Even when the boys were little shits (sorry guys - you totally were!) they were still pretty polite.  Please, Thank You, don't talk back to adults...you know, that kind of thing.  We knew that if we were at a store or the mall or the fair, we did NOT run off without permission.  To do so would incur The Wrath, and would sometimes end in a spanking.  We were good kids, for the most part.

One of the things this has done to me is made me a little intolerant sometimes of other peoples children.  I know I shouldn't be that way, but I really can't help it!

For example.  I work the Farmers Market with my roommate every Saturday.  There is one booth that usually brings their little girl.  She is cute, she really is...she's also a handful.  And they tend to just let her wander around!  Hundreds of people at this fair, and they just let her wander off.  She can't be older than 3!  And her Grandmother thinks it's CUTE that she wanders off and goes and talks to everyone she sees!  The fair where we work is set away from the street...but people still drive through the alley.  What if she got hit by a car?  Or even worse, what if someone snatched her?  Or what if she was allergic to something, and someone gave her some candy that she had an allergy too?

In my opinion?  TOTALLY unacceptable.  Now, I know that it isn't my kid...but it makes me nervous.  I feel like I have to watch the little one to make sure they don't get hurt, because their parents aren't going to.

I totally get that parents get busy.  No really, I understand.

But that is no excuse for letting your child run wild.  The places you CAN let your kid run around would include the part or the McDonalds Play Place.  Or maybe a toy store.

It just drives me crazy.

Today, at Starbucks, there was a group of people sitting outside drinking coffee.  There was a toddler with them, running around the patio area, mostly being ignored by the adults.  At one point, I glanced outside...and he was AROUND the building, playing on the sidewalk right by the street.  Eventually, an adult called to him and he reluctantly came back...but what was to stop that toddler from running out into the street instead?

At the end of the day - YOU, the PARENTS of your child are responsible for your child.  If you can't handle that responsibility, you shouldn't have children.  You shouldn't expect that the rest of the world will just roll over and happily ensure that your child is safe and sound (though most will, because the world is full of inherently good people.)  Now, I'm not saying you should glare at every stranger that looks at your kid...but really now.  Use a little caution and a little common sense, huh?