My family and I recently returned from a very relaxing and fun vacation. While I've learned to do my best to ignore parents who let their children run around without correcting them or teach them to have respect for others as long as it doesn't interfere with the safety and comfort of my child. When it does I will say something!
What really irritates me though are parents who refuse to teach their children basic common courtesy and good old-fashioned hygiene. On the return flight home we sat in front of a child who had a very nasty cough (not her fault) but her mom never told her to cover her mouth with her forearm. Every two seconds I heard a hack, hack, hack. This kid exposing all of whatever was going on in her system around. I'm not one of those parents who believes I have to purposely expose my child to germs in order to build up her immune system. We're exposed to plenty living in this germ infested metropolis called New York City.
It's not the first and I know it won't be the last time a parent refuses to teach their child what I consider a basic task but this really bugs me. It's respectful and proper to cover your damn mouth if you sneeze or cough. Yawning too but no one seems to do that anymore.
Aren't planes small and dirty enough already for others to have to be exposed to this kids horrible cough? I always clean the area where we'll be seating but unfortunately, I can't force a mother to teach her child what was considered a basic part of the learning process when I was a child.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just an on airplane either. At a restaurant I kept side-eyeing a mother whose child was hacking all over the place without covering his mouth. First off, if your child is ill and has somethnig catchable why are you bringing him to a restaurant? Feed his behind at home or ask your child to cover their mouth.
Even at my daughter's birthday party I had to insist a mother use a Boogie Wipe to clean her sons runny nose. Yes, I know kids have runny noses (some more frequent than others) but clean it. Who just leaves the snot and liquid to fall down the face and into the mouth? Why on earth would I or any other parent want another kids liquid and snot falling on their floor or their child.
I've come to the conclusion that MANY parents just don't give a damn about other parents and their children. One of my overly sensitive in laws was offended because we asked her to not bring her kids over if they were sick when they wanted to visit with our daughter. She claims she would never bring her sick children over if they weren't feeling well. She might not but a lot of people do and don't care. I've even asked my own mother to stay away when she's not feeling well. I can't control what happens on an airplane or on the subway but I can control what I'm willing to expose my family to in our household. If I visit your home and you ask me to wear a Hazmat suit I will.
If people bothered to use common sense when it comes to spreading "catchable" yuckies perhaps there would have been less fear mongering regarding the H1N1 vaccine.
0 comments:
Post a Comment