#parents #children #GoodBehavior #BadBehavior #respect
In the Angi ad, kids are whacking adults with harmless weapons.
In the VRBO ad, dad asks his teens whether there is room for him in the hot tub. They say no. He leaves. Isn’t dad paying for the VRBO with the hot tub?
These two ads say a lot about how kids rule their households. It used to be the other way around.
Even though the weapons in the Angi ad are harmless – they look like pool noodles – the adults getting whacked had to have been annoyed. In decades past, if a child annoyed an adult, he or she would have been punished.
And, to show such annoying behavior in a TV ad would have been taboo. Are parents, or other adult family members, so oblivious to the children’s behavior that they don’t notice?
In decades past, parents prioritized good behavior in children. It required work, for sure, but a parent could never allow their children to misbehave.
In the VRBO ad, the hot tub appeared to be small, just big enough for two people. Dad would have made it cramped for everyone.
But, if dad is paying for vacation, he should be allowed to take his turn in the hot tub. Perhaps he did, eventually. One should only spend so much time in a hot tub in one sitting. But for the teen girls to rebuff him would have been considered misbehavior decades ago.
Children need to be taught good behavior and manners at as young an age as possible.
Decorum is important to learn not just for their interaction with adults, but for their interactions when they become adults.
If there have never been rules at home, they will be surprised when schools or future employers impose behavioral rules on them.
Running wild and whacking adults with pool noodles is not good behavior. Not allowing dad a turn in the hot tub shows disrespect for the person responsible for your nice vacation.
In fairness, some households are overly restrictive on kids. Kids need opportunities to blow off steam, particularly if they are bored.
Bored children can create the kind of mischief that might be beyond the pale, because imaginations can run wild amid boredom.
And, kids need time to be kids, just as teens need time to be teens. The good parents know when behaviors need to be curbed and respect for others – particularly elders – needs to be taught.
That requires work on the part of both parents and children. Kids need established behavioral rules. Parents need to know when those rules can be broken.
Good behavior among children is not just for the benefit of non-parental observers. It’s for parents’ sanity and children’s education.
A good rule for both parents and kids: Treat others as you would like to be treated. If you practice that, good behavior, and good parenting, will be a natural outcome.
Peter