I don't know how you came up or when, but when I was a kid you didn't talk to strangers unless you needed emergency help.... So what, am I the victim of bad parenting..or an intolerant lout?
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I agree that it's a tool. Like any tool, you have to know how to use it. The tool itself doesn't make an artist.
Some little kid says something to correct an unknown adult......not smug?????? Not insolent?????
Yes? Or maybe just overdramatizing a bit? You've only got about seven years on me, and my mother was very southern and very strict when it came to manners. That said, speaking to a stranger was never grounds for a "backhand". Neither was occasionally being an obxnious 12 year old.
Sounds like the OP was the fragile one. Couldn't handle a kid 'treating him like an equal'? Was the kid really that rude, disrespectful, or out of line? I mean, really?
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato couple millenia ago
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato couple millenia ago
I am certainly not justifying the OP's response, but I can certainly see where it may have come from. Our society has gone so far down the "Everyone Gets A Trophy" path that kids today feel so entitled and treated like they are all way above average. I am 56 years old my self and by being exposed to a lot of kids as a result of my son activities through the years I have met my share of kids just like the youngster the OP encountered. "Mommy and Daddy say I am special and better than everyone else so I will take it upon myself to ensure I let everyone that I meet know it!" Then when he encounters an adult who expects to see just a little respect extended to an elder, our Little Prince has to have Daddy step in and defend him. It is becoming more and more pervasive in our society for children and teens to be rude and disrespectful to adults. Some of it can be chalked up to the fact that our culture—movies, music, internet sites and television—often glorifies disrespectful, crude or even cruel behavior. Mommy and Daddy help to encourage it. I really think that the negative responses directed towards to OP are a little harsh. Just like someone posted earlier - how did all of you make it through childhood in such a cruel, cruel world?
I love hating 12 year olds as much as the next guy, but I reread this and I really don't see anything wrong with his actions. If he challenged your own ear and started an argument, that would be one thing. But it sounds like the kid was just pointing out that the bass was out of tune which is probably true considering the circumstances. I could care less about a kid talking to me like he's my age as long as he's not being rude.
Go ahead and smack a kid in public today. See how long it takes for the police to escort you to a nice cozy cell.
I don't take umbrage to the kid being excitable or even a bit braggerdly, I've got a 13 year old boy so I am in the thick of this dynamic right now (look to the left)...I really do take exception to the fat shaming aspect of the post. Call it b.s., call me a wuss or whatever but when you go out of your way to post repeatedly to tear down a little kid, even in a nameless, faceless quippy way like this, it really points to a flaw in YOUR character more than the kid's. To each their own and all, but if someone took such tone to me in the Dad role over something so benign my son said, well, there just might be some problems.
Funny how the folks talking about "kids these days" have the same sense that their opinions are special, valuable, and correct.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.
When I was 12 years old I was pretty skinny but I still knew it all.
Actually I knew it all until I was in my 30's.
Now that I am in my 60's I am often surprised by how little I know.
Actually I knew it all until I was in my 30's.
Now that I am in my 60's I am often surprised by how little I know.
Just regarding that part of your post:
My wife is big sister to a girl (12 yo) here who is living with her grandmother who is pretty helpless. Her mom is around but is currently getting surgery on her arms to reduce the effect of using them as pincushions. Interestingly, the girl has no weight issues. She's not very intelligent and very small for her age (due to how her mother took care of herself while pregnant) but she's at least trying to learn, she's a cute kid and she is very salvageable. She has her eyes wide open regarding her mom and her lifestyle.
There is another girl (15 YO) from our church that we tried to "take in" as a friend, but she is so obnoxious that it is making it difficult to even try to help her. She is fat, constantly hungry, and will not eat anything healthy we put in front of her. And no amount of encouragement or positive talk works on ANY subject. It's like talking to a bag of raw narcissism. She is utterly oblivious to any attempted teaching of any kind. It's like trying to talk rocket science to a two year old. We've decided to apply our efforts elsewhere.
The sad thing about the 15 year old is that she is a walking caricature of the multi-generation welfare recipient mentality. The idea of actually aspiring to earn your own living is so foreign to her that she can't grasp the concept. EVERYTHING is about how to simply "get stuff" from the government and other people. It permeates everything about her world. Here is just how derailed her family is:
She claims she was sexually abused multiple times several years ago by her mother's ex boyfriend. That man has re-entered the picture and he says he's really sorry and he's changed. He now lives in Texas. So, mom has decided to move to Texas with him, but she can't yet. So she wants this girl to move there first and live there for a couple months while mom gets things in order in KY before she moves. Seriously? Yes, seriously.
How do you fix that kind of stupid? And that is what it is. It is not ignorance. It is raw, unadulterated, in your face stupidity.
There is some very messed up stuff going on around here. It's like another species.
I've heard of the food insecurity issue, but not read much about it yet.
I'll hold my tongue on the "every kid gets a trophy" mantra. But suffice to say it's tiresome, and rarely accurate.
The kid was 12, said something that might be construed as disrespectful or at a 'peer' level with the OP (heaven forbid). But the OP, an adult, felt justified in saying something PURPOSEFULLY rude to the kid and his parent. Then went on TB to brag.
But we're being too harsh on the OP?
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Again, if you read the OP, the child simply appeared to ask to tune the bass with his perfect pitch. The story as it's told doesn't seem to infer that he corrected the OP.
The kid just sounds like he was bragging a bit.....probably not "backhand" worthy.
Three straw men there. Nobody said those things. Nobody meant those things.
What, exactly, is your point?
