Things that chap my ass, part 752:

[christinex1001]

People who don't leave their kids at home when coming to functions that are obviously for the grown-ups. Little clue: if the event says "Ball" in the title, it means an evening event where people dress up and dance with each other (and have paid good money to do so). It is not the place for four-year-olds who get cranky and start screaming in the middle of a dance (and when I say "middle of a dance," I mean the mother was carrying the kid while trying to do a longways set dance). It is not "cute" to have a five-year-old dancing in a set dance if the presence of the five-year-old means that the entire line gets screwed because she doesn't understand how the steps work, and we have to end the dance early because of mass chaos. There are lots of living history events where it's perfectly appropriate to bring your child: encampments, demos, picnics, etc. A ball is not one of them.

Seriously, I'm really starting to wonder when exactly "babysitter" became a bad word...

Comments

[oqidaun.livejournal.com]

add to it that any more you can't say a damned thing about it... i have a very low tolerance for this thing that often gets dismissed with the "oh if you had children you'd understand..." line of crap. i look at it this way, i don't let my dogs out in public unless they can behave themselves (that includes i don't let them bark hysterically for no reason in the backyard) and if my dogs are better behaved than your children in the same situation that's a problem. these parents need to accept societal boundaries and teach them to their children or there's going to be serious problems down the road.

i don't think ill behaved or obnoxious children are cute and i'm not a cold evil person (although i play one on tv) it's just that there are places for children (chuck e. cheese, toys r us, cages) and there are places for adults.

[christinex1001.livejournal.com]

I should've known you'd be the one to respond to this post. ;-)

And I completely agree. I won't complain about kids being kids at places where they're supposed to be (including family restaurants such as Chili's, Red Robin, etc.), but I think parents have lost all sense of boundaries. When my viewing of Hannibal is interrupted by the plaintive tones of a five-year-old asking, "But Daddy, why is he taking out that man's brain?", then I know we have a problem.

I didn't say anything last night, but I did give the screaming four-year-old's (actually, it turns out he was only three, which makes it even worse) parents a good shot of ye olde stink-eye, and they did leave kind of early. Thank God.

Don't fuck with the Grand Admiral!