Today's rambling: My blunt and shameless opinion
Written on November 27, 2001 at 6:28 p.m.
while feeling a bit

I make no apologies for this statement. I respect your right to disagree...just do it elsewhere. *smiles* Shall we begin?

90 percent of all Americans should be forbidden to reproduce. They're either too dumb, too careless, or too immature to take care of children. How do I come to this conclusion, you ask? Work in a grocery store (or just about ANY public place), and you'll see exactly what I mean.

I must admit that my extreme dislike of children has been biased. I've been looking only at the fact that 9 out of 10 that I see are all obnoxious, uncaring little brats. Despite my revelation, I know they still ARE what I just said, but it's not entirely their fault. Ultimately, it's all about the parents.

Most parents just don't discipline their children anymore. Instead, they try to reason with them. "Susie, stop throwing those boxes! If you do, I'll buy you a toy!" Meanwhile, Susie the 2-year old (who doesn't understand half of what you're telling her anyway) is screaming and throwing more grocery items onto the floor. This leaves some poor clerk to clean them all up, since half the time the adults are too ignorant to do it themselves. Now, this doesn't go for EVERY parent--I have seen people who are very considerate and will either clean the mess up themselves or tell an employee. This is better than just leaving it there.

There are other parents who just allow their children to scream and make a fuss. The kid wants to throw stuff around? Fine, Mommy's got a deli order to take care of and she doesn't give a flip what her kid does. These sorts of parents irritate me more than the Negotiators. How did you get blessed to have children you don't even care about when there's some woman out there, unable to have children, who would give such unbelievable care to her little ones?

There were three kids at the donut/cookie case today (which is just a few short feet across from the deli), and they decided that everything within was totally free. So they picked out a cookie, walked away..then decided they didn't want that particular cookie and put it back. Who knew WHERE their fingers had been (up their nose, probably), so needless to say this was a little disgusting. Meanwhile, their mother is ordering something from the deli counter, not caring what her little darlings are doing. Karen (a cake decorator) finally walked out there to say something to them, but Mommy finally noticed (at last..her kid had only been screaming for the past two minutes). Kids got their cookies...then promptly went over and sat on loaves of bread while they ate their little treats. Did their mother care? Nope. Why should she? It's not HER bread being sat upon, nor is it her money being wasted.

Then you've got those women who have SO many kids it would be impossible for her to keep track of all of them anyway. I can't help but be in awe, even as I question her sanity. If I ever had kids, I'd have one. Two, at most. These people with four or five or more kids...what's up with that? Half of the families will be lucky if they can afford sending all the kids to college, and THAT'S in the future! What about diapers and food and all those other necessities that come with kids?

The whole "lack of punishment" thing is what really bothers me. People seem to think that spanking is an evil thing, but it's not! It's not like you're supposed to BEAT your children. There's quite a visible line between a spanking and abuse. Despite what I've said in the past, I do not condone child abuse at all. If you didn't want the kid to begin with, then let someone who DOES care about children adopt yours. It's not wrong to give up your child for adoption: indeed, it's being kind because you're giving him/her a chance to be loved.

Punishment, however, has nothing to do with abuse. You don't even have to whack 'em...Little kids exaggerate things so much that you could merely bend them over your knee and they'd start crying. Add even the lightest of smacks to that, and you're set. It doesn't require bringing out a paddle and whalin' their asses. But no one seems to realize this anymore. Now it's "Ohhh, I couldn't hit my child! That's wrong!" So they let their kids run over them, get away with whatever they want...and generally get a very skewed view of life.

At any rate, punishment doesn't mean smacking ALL the time. Or even MOST of the time. I know people who weren't punished like that and they came out alright. Of course, they were probably pretty well behaved to begin with. But parents these days don't seem to know how to PUNISH, period. They negotiate, they reinforce the bad habits...

So yeah, that brings an end to my rant. As I said, I make no excuses. This is my opinion, and I am entitled to it, just as you're entitled to yours. However, I'm not particularly interested in anyone else's opinion on the subject, so don't leave Notes or send emails whining "You're so WRONG! How can you SAY stuff like that?" Because I don't care. If you've got a diary, rant there.

I'm a little on the defensive, aren't I? Heh.