Friday, May 29, 2009

Clueless parenting

* Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Spending time at the pool affords many opportunities to witness parenting in action...or inaction, whatever the case may be.

Little Suzie and Bubba were already terrorizing swimming when we arrived this evening. Before we could even unload our gear, Suzie attempted to snag on of our floaties. After politely reminding her she needed to ask before taking something that didn't belong to her (a novel idea), I let her borrow the giant lobster.

Mistake number one. For the next five minutes we listened to little Suzie and Bubba (who had immediately pushed Suzie off to take it for himself. Who says chivalry is dead?) fighting over the toy. Just as I was about to reclaim our large crustacean and hopefully some peace and quiet, Mom rouses her head from her phone to see what Suzie and Bubba are screaming about.

Where was mom all this time? Why, texting on her phone of course.

After several minutes of listening to Suzie scream (you know, the ear piercing, nails on a chalkboard sort of scream) at Bubba for torturing her, we moved to the other side of the pool. At least there the noise was merely a dull shrieking. But oh no...they followed us and proceeded to take every toy we brought directly out of our kids' hands! No amount of asking nicely on our kids part would do any good. Only when I got out of my chair and instructed her to return the toy NOW, did she reluctantly do so.

Where was the mom all this time? Why texting on her phone of course.

Every once in awhile Mom would tell Suzie to be nice. Suzie's reply? "NO!"

Um...excuse me? Is this the point you yank her out of the pool and give her a good spanking? Nope. Mom does nothing.

It's finally time for Bubba and Suzie to leave (insert cheering) and it takes 20 minutes to get them out of the water. Two ladies who were with them had to physically drag, yes DRAG, Bubba out of the pool. For pities sake, the kid had to be at least ten!

I love to people watch, but this one takes the cake.

5 comments:

  1. Ooh, sorry you had to endure that! May the Lord draw many people to Himself this summer as they see how you love and care for your children and let your light shine!
    Hugs,
    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  2. OK. You know I am all about giving grace to mothers, but I would not be able to find enough grace in me for this one. Yikes!
    BTW, what kind of cake did she take? Because if it was chocolate - oh - that would make me even more mad! LOL

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  3. What a hoot! Emily and I thouroughly enjoyed your recount of your pool adventure. Missing you in Idaho. MIchelle E.

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  4. I have definitely witnessed these types of situations myself and they can be frustrating. However, I must admit I have been this Mom from time to time. Sometimes I have to pick my battles and they are not proper parenting, unfortunately. If something else very serious is going on in my life, my focus tends to go there. I have to ask....I wonder what is going on in this family? Maybe they need our Lord. Maybe they just need our love. ~Vicki S.

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  5. Angela, WHAT kind of neighborhood are YOU living in?!? Oh, wait a second... that would be my neighborhood...

    **frantically thinking, then feeling relieved, realizing I haven't been to the pool yet, so it wasn't me you were talking about**

    Whew! =)

    Just kidding!

    Keep bloggin, girly - I love it!

    ReplyDelete

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