Assaulted by small child

[ladyhelwynn]

I am prefacing this with the fact that I like children.  Most of the time they are cute and quite amusing.  But, I do have to say that I really think a child that is old enough to walk and to talk to people should have at least a basic teaching of manners

Comments

[margaretc]

Just because one is a parent does not mean one knows what one is doing. The parent obviously didn't have a clue as to how to teach the child manners.

I've had discussions with fellow parents and other caregivers about this - a child doesn't spontaneously wake up one day and decide to be mannerly. You have to teach the child repeatedly, sometimes causing upset and angst (on both your part and the child's). We regularly get told how nice Nate's manners are, but we both know that we regularly have to remind him of everyday things - saying please, shutting the toilet lid, not running in to people in the store, and so on, repeated until it becomes ingrained.

[ladyhelwynn]

Yes, it really does amaze me how many parents there are out there that really just don't sit down and TEACH their child why certain behaviors aren't acceptable.

Several months ago my friend and I were out eating dinner and the child across the aisle from us kept throwing food around. The parents kept saying "no" but didn't take the food away. Unfortunatly, I made eye contact that time and before I knew it, I was hit upside the head with a chicken nugget. The mother got the chicken nugget from the table and told the child to appologize. The child didn't and she didn't make him and she didn't appologize herself for her child's behaviour.

It was really amazing. It makes me grateful that most parents in the SCA seem to teach manners.

[fiberferret]

Most SCA parents are good, but I've noticed some surprising behavior at the last several events. The worst was at Ymir, where, during court, a band of young boys were very noisily playing "hot & cold" near the waterbearing tent. I had to tell them several times not to enter my tent or those of others without first asking permission. I was VERY surprised at this. I'm definately going to make it a priority to get a class on courtesy taught in the barony for the kids sometime soon.

[ladyhelwynn]

Yes, there are still those out there, but as a whole percentage wise, I find a lot of the children in the SCA have better manners.

But, I think a kids courtesy class would be great. Because there are also things that occur in the SCA that don't necessarily happen on a daily basis as well that kids may not know about or be confused about.

Excellent idea!

[spyderbug]

The worst case of this that I have encountered was when I was waitressing and there were three kids racing around my restaurant... and the parents said nothing.. so I got crayon and picked a table for the kid sto color on.. Unfortunately, some parent think that the world is their baby sitter.... I don't think they tipped..*sigh* If that hadn't worked I think I was going to feed the parents to the lobsters.....

[margaretc]

This is what managers are for!!!! You (or an unrelated patron) can, and should, request the manager to talk to the parents (and the kids!) to get them under control. It is NOT your job to be walked upon by parents who just don't want to deal with their kids at the moment.