Are you Serious?

Seems like everyday Skylar will say something new, in a bigger sentence, with a better understanding of how and when to use certain words. Here are a few examples:

At the table eating dinner: Brian "Skylar you need to eat your food". Skylar (with a look that could stop a truck) "Are you serious?"

Also at the table eating dinner: Skylar "I like this Mommy, it's delicious!"

Somtimes it's hard to imagine such grown up things coming from such a pint sized little person. Cracks me up and makes me laugh so hard, of course I have to be discreet about it if I’m reprimanding her for saying what she just said.

So onto something that completely eats me alive when I see it, the child harness, i.e. LEASH! At the baseball game on Saturday there was a child who was probably about 3 or 4'ish being walked around by his, oh say 6 or 7'ish, year old brother. The younger one on a leash. Okay so the one child walks the other child around...and where might I ask are the parents. Oh yeah, that's right, in the stands drinking beer while Peter takes care of Paul by walking him around the stadium on a dog leash. I don't understand the "harness", I say this time and time again and once in a while I have someone who thinks they aren't a bad idea and they back their argument up with, "well it's better than letting your kids run off and get lost". To those people I have this to say: Firstly, try discipline, it works wonders. Secondly, explain to your child that running off isn't something they should be doing, if your kid is that out of control in a public area then perhaps for his safety you are better off leaving him home with a babysitter. Thirdly, if you can hold a leash, can you maybe hold his hand? I don't get it, HOLD THE CHILDS HAND people. It's a simple old fashioned way of keeping your kids at your side. Geesh!!!

And I'm still not done...well I'm done bitching about parents who leash their kids like dogs, but I'm not done bitching! Back to the ballgame. Ethan was getting cranky in our cramped seats so I decided to take a walk with Ethan, Skylar and my friend over to the playground area so the kids could play for a bit. I propped Ethan up on the bars and let him walk around holding onto the bars while I watched him and then Skylar was on the slides and such under the watchful eye of Stephanie. Ethan fell over trying to make the switch from the one set of bars to the next and banged his head, so I picked him up and went over to watch Skylar on the slide. You have to bear in mind that there are a huge amount of kids playing in this one area and really it's all about taking turns. Well there are kids up there literally elbowing other kids out of the way and pushing their way to the front of the line. Again...HELLO...where are the parents to make these kids stand in line and wait their turn? One kid pushed Skylar and I was ready to run up there and personally kick his ass. I know, I know, it's a little unusual to feel so angry toward a 4 year old but nobody, but nobody puts my baby in the corner.

Sorry about the cheesy Dirty dancing reference, I had to!

And again, not done yet. So I was at the park riding Skylar around on my bike and there are about 5 boys playing right on the pathway, as I'm coming up on them I start yelling "watch out watch out" so they don't run in front of me and kill all of us. As I get by them, the one kid starts mocking me "watch out watch out". So since I'm a grown up and I need to behave accordingly, I yell back "do you want me to come back and run you over?" Again...I know it's a little harsh, but yikes, where are parents in public situations? Are they not watching their kids, do they not teach their kids simple things. Perhaps they could leash their kids so they don’t run out in front of the bikers, now there is an idea! And what kind of a parent does it take to raise a child who has the nerve to mock another adult? I know that sometimes kids turn out the way they do in spite of the parents efforts, but from one weekend I've come to the conclusion that while this may be true at times, it's more often than not that kids end up the way the do because parents are oblivious, they pay no attention and really don't show their kids the right way to behave.

I'm not claiming to be perfect in any way, but I do know that I pay plenty of attention to my children and I raise them to be respectful of themselves and other people. That's all it takes to make the world a better place, just a little respect.