Call me old fashioned. When I was a kid, there was such a thing as discipline, or, as I liked to say, the ever-present threat of a severe smackdown from my parents should I cause problems. Of course, the running joke on much of television these days is the whole "time-out" thing, as in, if you talk back to your folks, are out of control in public, lie, or, apparently, instigate mass ethnic cleansing one too many times, you're slapped with a time out. You sit in the corner.
Now, as a punishment for today's ADHD younger generation, sure, maybe that works.
But it's something else that bothers me...
Back in my friggin day, it was a BAD thing to run around out of control in the supermarket...remember?!?!?!? How do we solve this problem? Well, you got a smackdown. Hell, you got a time out. You get SOMETHING that attempts to reinforce the idea that running around a public place like a store is potentially dangerous for any number of reasons.
Not anymore. Instead, it seems we not only tolerate this behavior, but encourage it and ENABLE it by outfitting children with the tools to move faster with less control!
Yes! Let's put friggin' roller skates in their friggin shoes!
Wow, can't imagine why no one thought of this before now. The benefits far outweigh the potential hazards.
The reason I bring up the supermarket, though, is that seems to be the only place where kids wear these things. That's the only place I've ever seen them. I kid you not. The whole lights in the shoes thing? That was dumb. Dumb, but potentially harmless. This?
"Oops. Clean up on aisle three. Some kid on skates ran into an old woman and FRIGGIN
SHATTERED HER HIP!"Actually, I'm the kind of person that presents a delightful target for such things. Mostly because I don't expect kids up to 12-13 years old to be zipping up and down the aisles of Harris Teeter with no regard and no mercy for others.
As a society, we are doomed. And don't even get me started on my job.
2 comments:
See, this is why we're so good together. The same little things drive us completely batshit insane. I HATE those shoes. I hate that the only children who have them are the ones who oughtn't be allowed out in public under any circumstances. I hate that the parents who let their children have them never bothered to teach the "when you run into someone, cut someone off, or otherwise heinously inconvenience someone, you should say 'excuse me'" lesson.
I actually was in a store not long ago (I can't remember where it was) that had a sign on the door saying "No roller skates, roller blades, or Heelys" (the brand name of this evil footwear). It at least gave me a moment of hopeful sniffling instead of outright weeping for the future.
Bring back the fear of the smackdown!
wow man! i totally agree about those shoes, but as i read the post all i could think is, "bob sounds like an old man." you actually used the phrase, "back in my friggin day." you can't do that cause your "friggin day" was my friggin day and when you use the term "friggin day", it makes us sound really old. i'm certainly not defending the ankle biters with their shoes-of-mahem, but the old man tirade is a bit disturbing.
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