Misbehaving children

I work part-time at Target, and today was the day from Hades. It seemed that every screaming, crying and whinning child came through my cashier line. I would like to know why the sol called "grown-ups", abdicated their role as the adult/parent? For example:

child: mommy I want juice; mommy I want juice; mommy I want juice"!!!!!!!

mother: You can have juice as soon as we get home. Ok?

Since when does the grown up ASK the child??????

Or the child that kept screaming and crying from the back of the store all the way to the front check-out:

child: I promise to be good - can I have a toy now? Over and over and OVER again, screaming and crying all the way. All mom did was say, over and over and over again:

mom: no, you missed you chance to have a toy.

When my two brothers and I were growing up, we were taught from day one that we did not back-talk to adults, especially our parents, without suffering consequences; we learned that we were told only once about our bad behavior and if we continued, we got an open handed slap across our mouths or a swat against our butts, when WE DESERVED IT! For those who cannot tell the difference between "disciplining" a child and "child abuse", really do not deserve to have children.

My parents taught us three to NOT be bullies; do not pick on someone smaller than ourselves; do not HARM animals in any way, shape or form. And, our parents ALWAYS knew what we were doing, whether it was playing cards or board games, knowing the difference between reality and fantasy (so we could watch the Three Stooges and understand that it was all make believe) and that things they did on TV could really hurt.

My parents NEVER had the attitude, "NOT MY CHILD". Because kids get into trouble. Just how serious, depends on what they are allowed to get away with in public.

The carts in the store are NOT toys.....they are not meant for the child to hang on the end or lay on the bottom. They CAN and DO get hurt. But I can't tell you how many times in one day I have to ask the parents and child, "please do not hang on the end, please sit down, or please do not allow your child to roll around on the botton". Not only is this an issue of safety for the child, but it is also a liability issue for the store.....yet, many times I am told, "oh, it's ok, he/she does it all the time". "I'm watching him/her". Then I see the mom/dad walk away and pay no attention.

I also used to work with spinal cord injured patients, from car accidents, gun shots, falls, etc., who would give anything to not only be able to WALK again, but to be able to function on their own. Yet, I constantly see children 7, 8, 9 and above who are just too lazy to walk and insist that they sit in the cart. To me, this is really pathetic.

For the children who are not only well behaved, but actually help their moms and dads, by taking the bagged items I set to the side, and put in the carts, I always THANK those children, tell them and their parents how wonderful I think I they are. I always wish them a wonderful day/evening/weekend and thank them for shopping at our store.

I wonder when parents will stand up and take back their role of ADULT and actually teach their child the difference between appropriate and not appropriate behavior.