Childless=Clueless?

So--being a woman my age, not married and without children, I find myself stereotyped as "clueless" when it comes to children. Never mind the fact that I am exposed to children quite often through my family and friends. I'm not a mother, so I don't understand. Ok, I get it. I don't know what it is like to be 100% responsible for another human being. I don't know what it is like to love something so much it hurts. You're right. These mothers are right about the fact that I don’t have children and I don’t know what it’s like to be a mother. But, by observation I DO know how children are supposed to behave--and what parental actions are preventing children from behaving this way. You DO NOT have to be a parent to understand that if you ignore a child's continuous bad behavior--nothing good is going to come from it. Letting your child get anything he or she wants is not going to produce positive results. You don’t have to be a parent to know that. I’m not meaning to knock their parenting skills—but some of the things they let their children do are unbelievable. Even at 19 and 20 I recognized that a parent should not let a child get away with everything. Let’s start with the basics:

• Table manners. Children these days have none.
• Respecting authority/adults. Children these days have none.
• Earning privileges. Children these days believe they are entitled to everything they have and have to do nothing to earn the "fun stuff." Can you blame them? They have TVs, DVD players and video games in their bedrooms. They have personal laptops by age 5 and even cell phones!

There seems to be a huge trend on allowing the child to make decisions he or she is not capable of making. Children can't decide what is best for them UNTIL THEY ARE TAUGHT what is best for them. You don’t have to be a parent to see or know that. You don't have to be a parent to know that it is actually quite simple to make the little kid sit at the table and behave—or suffer the consequences. And this day and age, consequences do not have to be physically hitting a child (though I believe a good spanking works every now and then). It is highly likely that the kid has video games, DVD players, TV, or a cell phone. Start there. Take THAT away from him. Perfect consequence. You don't get what you want until you act the way that is expected of you. Some mothers just don't want to take any criticism (and it is usually constructive criticism offered up by--OTHER MOTHERS). I don't know, maybe they are afraid of how society will see them (but honestly--why would you care how society sees you if it is for the best interest of your child)? Parents don't want to nit-pick their children. Ok. But when your child has NO respect for authorities, NO respect for rules, NO concept of what is right or wrong and NO concept of how to treat other people (peers, siblings, adults, etc) I think you, as a parent, are WAY BEYOND the point of nit-picking. I think you are most likely headed down a very dark path once adolesence hits. I'd invest in some locks on your bedroom doors.

So here's to the mothers that would rather be their child's friend than their child's teacher. And here's to us--those childless women in the world--may we learn how NOT to raise our children by the mothers shining examples!