A few weeks ago we took the boys to a big nation chain kiddie casino. I will not tell you the name but the mascot is a big singing rodent. I think you know what I'm talking about. Anywho- it's the kinda place where you can drop $50 bucks and leave with pink eye, food poisoning, three plastic frogs, a foam airplane and possibly TB.
Besides the excitement of the blinking lights, rat-led conga line, and clinking tokens, there are kids EVERYWHERE. Some, like ours, supervised- and some running wild and free like a bunch of hippies at Woodstock. As LITTLE and I were en route to our next game (think wack-a-mole) we had a very disturbing encounter with another mother/son duo. We were walking and I saw a little boy about LITTLE's size (so I imagine about his age- 18 months oldish) pull a tween boy's tickets out of the game he was playing and then throw them on the floor near my feet. The little boy and his mom saw me see him grab the tickets. They clearly did not belong to him. I picked up the tickets and handed them to the oblivious tween boy and said "here- someone took these and they belong to you." I didn't say who took them. I didn't look in the direction of mother or son. I just returned the tickets to the rightful owner. There were so many people around that it could have been anyone that grabbed the tickets- I say all of this to let you know dear reader that neither this woman nor her son were implicated in the crime. Until the mom said in a loud exasperated voice- not directed at anyone {wink wink- totally directed at me!} "kids are gonna steal." I was shocked. Sure kids are going to push the limits and do things they shouldn't but it's our job as parents to teach them right from wrong. This woman didn't say a thing to her child about taking something that didn't belong to him. She totally missed the teachable moment.
So the irony shouldn't be lost on any of you when I tell you that as we walked by them LITTLE grabbed a handful of tokens out of her husbands bucket. She looked UPSET! Someone had just taken something that belonged to her! So different when the shoe is on the other foot I imagine. I stopped. Looked LITTLE in the eye and said "we don't take things that don't belong to us." I made him put the tokens back in their bucket. Funny how this time her attitude changed a bit and she didn't justify my child's actions by saying kids are going to steal. Maybe I'm the mean mom here but my kids will know exactly how I feel about stealing. I certainly won't be on the sidelines justifying or condoning this behavior.
Besides the excitement of the blinking lights, rat-led conga line, and clinking tokens, there are kids EVERYWHERE. Some, like ours, supervised- and some running wild and free like a bunch of hippies at Woodstock. As LITTLE and I were en route to our next game (think wack-a-mole) we had a very disturbing encounter with another mother/son duo. We were walking and I saw a little boy about LITTLE's size (so I imagine about his age- 18 months oldish) pull a tween boy's tickets out of the game he was playing and then throw them on the floor near my feet. The little boy and his mom saw me see him grab the tickets. They clearly did not belong to him. I picked up the tickets and handed them to the oblivious tween boy and said "here- someone took these and they belong to you." I didn't say who took them. I didn't look in the direction of mother or son. I just returned the tickets to the rightful owner. There were so many people around that it could have been anyone that grabbed the tickets- I say all of this to let you know dear reader that neither this woman nor her son were implicated in the crime. Until the mom said in a loud exasperated voice- not directed at anyone {wink wink- totally directed at me!} "kids are gonna steal." I was shocked. Sure kids are going to push the limits and do things they shouldn't but it's our job as parents to teach them right from wrong. This woman didn't say a thing to her child about taking something that didn't belong to him. She totally missed the teachable moment.
So the irony shouldn't be lost on any of you when I tell you that as we walked by them LITTLE grabbed a handful of tokens out of her husbands bucket. She looked UPSET! Someone had just taken something that belonged to her! So different when the shoe is on the other foot I imagine. I stopped. Looked LITTLE in the eye and said "we don't take things that don't belong to us." I made him put the tokens back in their bucket. Funny how this time her attitude changed a bit and she didn't justify my child's actions by saying kids are going to steal. Maybe I'm the mean mom here but my kids will know exactly how I feel about stealing. I certainly won't be on the sidelines justifying or condoning this behavior.
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