There's nothing worse than going to the bookstore and

[Deja Q]

they play loud annoying 1930s music in the background. Nice vocals but the music stinks. Worse, there's a great whopping speaker in the middle of the COMPUTER section. How the hell are people supposed to concentrate with some dead guy singing about the girls girls girls at the corner? :eyes:

Worse, parents must think the concept of "babysitter" is ancient history. Not only do I see kids in grocery stores at 11PM (2300 hours) which is bad enough, but at the bookstore tonight (10:15PM) there were these two human rejects with their little boy. The little boy clearly had a very nasty cold or something as he was hacking up a storm. Good grief, the child sounded terrible! It bothered me considerably that those sleazebags didn't give that kid some proper care and instead tote him to that bookstore and Lord knows where before (or after) that!! Even I, a person who knows I'd make a bad parent, know enough that the kid is top priority!

And it's not necessarily the parents' fault. Corporate america has engineered society so that one stay-home parent is as ancient as the DuMont network! With workers' salaries being (adjusted for inflation) the same the last 20 years or so despite doing twice as much work, it's quite clear that many parents will not bother with hiring a babysitter. (or do the parents simply trust nobody, which is another fault of our throwback of a 'society'?)

Sigh...

[politicat]

1. It's impossible to FIND baby sitters these days.

Used to be, teens could sit from about 13 to 16, when they got real jobs. Some even kept the business - I did.

Now, many states have enacted laws that declare it child abuse/neglect to leave a child alone until age 16 or so. And that babysitters have to go through the Red Cross classes, which are time consuming and expensive.

Babysitters in my area are booked minimum 8 weeks in advance, and get at least $7 and hour - more for multiple, sick or otherwise difficult kids.

If I wanted to make money, I'd hire myself out as a sitter.

Pcat

[Deja Q]

3. Thanks for the edification!

Didn't know any of that...

In which case, the parents of the ill child (and the other parents hauling out the kid at 11PM to get some groceries) are NEGLECTING their child.

I dunno. I'll never be a parent, the repukes are increasingly anti-family by the day, and peak oil'll effectively get us all within 10 years anyway, so why does my moralizing matter? :shrug:

[politicat]

5. Oh, I agree with you on that - and it's why I'm not breeding, either!!

If the kid for any reason can't be in the place - too tired, too sick, too young, too noisy, too cranky, too wild - the parents should leave. Pronto.

My ex and I had that rule with my step daughter. If she got out of line, one of us had to take her to the car and wait for the other to hurriedly check out (like with groceries) or we had to leave immediately, all purchases abandoned. And we hired sitters for things like grownup dinners out and concerts (tho we did take her to see Weird Al and They Might Be Giants.).

I utterly despise and have no compassion for parents who don't understand that their obnoxious brat may be annoying, infecting, harassing, or otherwise disturbing others, and who make no effort to control their child.

After all, the only way a child is going to learn to behave properly in the store, on the plane, during the bus ride, while eating, etc is to have those good behaviors reinforced and the bad ones frowned upon.

My step daughter was 9 when we got her, and fairly well behaved. But even she had her moments of car time. I can't imagine someone being so selfish as to drag a sick child out late at night . Actually, I can... and that's what bothers me.

Pcat

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Time was that people with a sick child would simply

SIT ON THEIR ASS at home. But not anymore, they have to go out to B&N or whatever just to browse or split a cheese cake and drag Jr. along.

[Deja Q]

4. So let them sit on their asses at home, those were the days...

At least the kid would be in bed fighting the illness instead of coughing it up in public for everybody else to catch and expending energy in the process, energy better used to FIGHT THE ILLNESS.

Sheesh, the day society prefers parents drag out sick kids over to the parents staying home and finding something to watch, read, eat, and/or have intimate relations with is just saddening...

My parents, in the early days, did stay home. Eventually they hired a babysitter as necessary, but they never dragged me along just for their own benefit when I was ill. They're good parents...

[Nay]

6. Like everyone here, I wonder why those parents HAD to go

to a B&N in the middle of the night with a sick child.

The answer is: they didn't. Or, at least, both of them didn't have to go. Why not leave one parent behind to tuck the little one into bed with some Nyquil? Even if they stopped momentarily at the B&N after having to go to the pharmacy for some medicine for the child, there was still no reason for BOTH parents and the child to have to go out.

Nope, this is a case of DUMBASS SELFISH THOUGHTLESS parents. Sad to say.