Thank You Parents!

As a non-parent I know that I am likely to eat my own words, however, in the last few days we've run into some great parenting lessons. Whether we wanted to or not.

Exhibit A: Target breakdown

I'm shopping for some Seventh Generation items. (I only say this because for some weird reason our Target has these things located next to the candles, not the other cleaning items...apparently more natural cleaning items belong with stinky candles.) As I'm debating my choices a mom comes around the corner with her three kiddos (I assume they were roughly 1, 4 and 8). One boy in the basket and a brother and sister walking by themselves. Then I hear it. Crashhhhhhhhhhhh. I literally put my hands over my eyes because I knew it wasn't pretty. Well, when I turned to look the mom said "Matthew, you did this, now YOU need to find someone to clean it up because it's too dangerous for you to clean up. See that lady in the red shirt? You need to tell her what happened and ask her politely for help." Now, this may seem harsh to some of you but I was all "Yahoo! You go mama!" because I have seen many a mom asking the worker-bee's for help, cleaning it up themselves, just leaving the mess behind as if it didn't happen all the while overlooking who really should be asking for help or cleaning up the mess. The little boy walked up to the employee and said "Excuse me, I need some help please. I picked up a candle and I didn't know it was glass and then I dropped it on accident and it broke all over. I'm real sorry but my mom said it's too dangerous for me to clean so could you please help me?" I kid you not. He was THAT apologetic and polite! I could tell he felt rotten about it, but he also felt responsible for the accident through that embarrassment. Never once did I feel the mom was overly harsh about the situation. But I also felt a great amount of respect for her because in the embarrassing situation she still made sure that her son took responsibility for his actions. I don't think that 8 year old will be touching candles anytime soon.

Exhibit B: Brooks Brothers cry-Baby

This weekend Nate needed some new work shirts so we headed to the mall. While he was sorting through colors and styles I happened to see a family of four come in the back door of the store. The dad stayed, also looking for items, while the mom took the son (5ish) and daughter (2ish) out the front and across the hall to a childrens store. Upon returning to Brooks Brothers the son was wimpering quite a bit about "mom wouldn't buy it for me" and such. Well dad quickly said "this is a quiet store, so we need to talk about this outside when we're done." Well, the little mister was NOT happy about that so he had a COMPLETE meltdown. Mom stepped in and walked both children out the back door to the parking lot while dad finished shopping. Little sister innocently asks mom on the way out "Mommy, why is Kyle crying?" Moms response? "Because he didn't get his way." Bam. Boo ya. And all those other fun phrases. Way to go mom!!! Way to NOT buckle under the pressure of the quiet surroundings. Way to NOT buy your children something just because they want it and cry when you say no. And way to point out the obvious...you're the boss and that's that.

Now, like I said earlier, I'm know Nate and I will struggle with these things when we're raising our own offspring. It's so easy to give in, clean the mess yourself or take the quick fix. We already butt heads about Sampson at times...but I'm always comforted when I/we see parents doing parenting the way I/we hope to. Be consistent with your rules and actions. Help them take ownership and be responsible. Most importantly? Do NOT crack under pressure!