A Pet Peeve

It's Writer's Workshop today from Mama's Losin' It! 

Writing Prompt #4- Name a pet peeve you have about how other parents raise their kids. Go on…stir the pot.

I try not to grumble or bemoan other parents; I've got enough on my plate - I'm not the perfect mom, so who am I to criticize. But as my children get older, I realize they are getting impacted more and more by other children and how those children's parents raise their kids. Yes I feel like a Mama Bear at times, wanting to protect my children, but at other times I give my children much space to let them figure out how to handle situations on their own (as long as it is clear they are safe).

Nevertheless, a pet peeve of mine has come to the battlefield recently and it's time I wrote about it. For some odd reason, every time I blog about something I am stewing about I feel so much better afterwards. Blogger is my own personal therapist.

The Pet Peeve: parents who give in to their children ALL the time to a point where they are babied, given the keys, and held on a pedestal.

Like I said, I'm not perfect. There have been a handful of times I have given in to one of my daughters to appease their crying or distract them from a meltdown, but I can count these times on one hand. I'm also not the strict, wrist-slapping nun who doesn't give children an inch (my mom grew up with teachers like these, not a mom - my grandma was a wonderful mother).

There's a boy my daughter plays with occasionally, and he just turned four. He pushes her. He rolls his eyes at me. He cries for every toy at every moment. He whines until he is held like a baby. And his mom gives in to his every whim. I don't know if there are special circumstances, so I can only say this here, once. But it irks me that he is so spoiled and so allowed to hurt others to get his way. I leave, with my daughter, feeling peeved.

We may be at a playground , the play area at the mall, the library, the grocery store... it happens everywhere. Parents giving in to fussing children. I've been there and done that. Children fuss in public and sometimes we just have to mollify them. Sometimes we don't.

But it is in our homes or in preschool, a place where the children are comfortable and at ease, those are the places where babying ill-mannered, aggressive children really bothers me.

Phew! I feel horrible steamrolling parents who do this, but it does help to write about it. I bite my tongue around these children and their parents. My daughters and I simply walk away  rather than deal with it.

So I apologize if this post offends anyone. Writing this probably helps me so I don't actually one day just let go and blow up in front of one these parents.