Kids manners in public

I’m big on manners. Yes, I know it’s because I went to Finishing School. I’ve tried to instil manners into my children from an early age. And, for the most part it has worked. But there are days …

I’m 100% behind the following article by Tiffany which I curated from the Jozikids blog.

Sometimes kids shouldn’t be kids (in public)

By Tiffany Markman, copywriter, editor and mom to a five-year-old chatterbox, who tries to balance her workaholism with cuddles, books, caffeine & reining in her intrinsic kugelry. Follow her on twitter. 

Let me set the scene for you. We sit in a darkened theatre. Before us: a lush red curtain, quivering slightly – as if in anticipation. Above us: dramatic lighting, darkening slowly to alert the waiting audience to coming thrills. Beneath us: slightly sticky floors and fallen popcorn: the output of hundreds of excited children, about to watch Aladdin and Jasmine and the Genie dart to life before their very eyes.

Behind us? A small blonde child. About five years old. With a piercing voice. Not a whisper. Not an ‘inside’ voice. Not even an ‘outside’ voice, actually. She has a shrill and unapologetic yelp. And she uses it to ask questions roughly every 45 seconds, right from the opening of those lush red drapes to the final curtain call

“Mommy, why’s that man so tall?”
“Mommy, what’s Jasmine doing?”
“How come he’s lying down, mommy?”
“Why’s Aladdin going to jail, mom?”
“Mom, I’m scared.”
“Mommy, is that a parrot or a person?”
“Is that popcorn? Can I have some?”
“Why’s she wearing a wedding dress?”

Now, I get that kids have questions. My own kid is a questioner. But I have two LARGE problems with the little Blondie – and, more specifically, her mother.

The first problem is that Blondie has no sense whatsoever of other people, nor of how to moderate her voice in a public place where others are listening intently. [Read More]

 

 

 

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