Today I went to Ikea for lunch, don’t ask me why but I did. I thought it would be fun to go shopping there and by the time I get to their restaurant would be all nice and hungry. So as I paid for my food and casually walked towards the end of the seating area I was welcomed by the harsh reality of how kid friendly Ikea is and how parents are absolutely in denial about how annoying their kids are.
I’m sure these parents think their kids are god damn adorable, and some of them are, but then again be honest wouldn’t you be annoyed if someone else’s kids were dragging chairs from one side of the room to the other side and all their respective parents did was to wave and smile at the kid? Well, I get annoyed when parent’s completly lose control of their kids and they think its okay.
I was sharing this story about my Ikea’s noisy lunch with my friend and we were reliving our childhood and how we were so well behaved. I remembered how my parents would give me a short list of things that I had to do while I was out and about with them either visiting friends and family or just out for the day:
– don’t talk to strangers
– don’t let go of my hand or go out of my eye sight
– do not touch anything
– if you need something ask me first
– no screaming and running around
There were couple of other things on the list that I don’t remember but these were the general rules and whoever broke them there was consequences to it. I’m not saying my parents abused me or hit me but I knew as a young kid that I need to respect the rules and there’s no way out of it (remember my way or the highway!!)
These days all I hear parents telling their kids is “honey can you please stop crying for mommy or you want us to just leave and not do grocery shopping”. We should NOT have this option giving conversation with our 5 yrs old kid. It should be more like “you better stop crying or you’re going to be grounded for a week starting NOW” or get some ass whooping!!! But who am i kidding, we never gonna say anything even close to that to our kids. These days the kids rule the world, they get everything, do everything and they wont get in any trouble. It’s disgusting and makes me not want to have kids and turn into those weak parents who would just say “oh I don’t know what to do with this kid”. UGH makes me sick……
I just hope when and if I have kids at some point they would respect me and follow the rules of the house as much as I did when I was growing up. I’m 27 and i still am secretly scared of my parents like a little girl..haha
Obviously not scared shitless but since I still leave with them I try to keep with the house rules and not cross them. Might be a bit sad and all but i call it good old proper bringing up. No matter what I do and where I would be living, they would always gonna be my parents.
Now what do you guys think, are we to weak with our kids to the point that they know they don’t have to listen to us and they can get away with murder??
Solmaz in the city 
I think it is very easy to have a view of how parents should behave when you don't have children of your own to deal with. That being said, I happen to agree that children should adhere to certain expectations. There are places where it would be acceptable for children to play with the chairs and wander around. There are places where this would not be acceptable. It is easy to explain this difference to even a very young child. I don't think grounding a 5 year old for a week would be appropriate. A child of that age has little concept of time. Respect for rules and self can not be demanded. It must be earned and learned. The best way to teach a child how to respect the rules is through example and consistency. It only takes once or twice of leaving a place for the child to learn that certain behaviors will not be tolerated. I would also like to say that it is not always obvious when a child has certain disabilities that need to be catered to.
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