Quote:
Originally Posted by augustjen
I am tired of having to be proactive for the sake of our security (airports included). Why should there be a need for parents to supervise their kids? What a great concept it would be for a parent to be worry-free for a change, instead of them having to be vigilant.
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I take it you don't have children yourself, and are speaking on behalf of other people? Because I've never heard any parent say "why should I need to supervise my kid." And the idea of "worry-free parenting" ...
There is no "worry-free." There is a scale of worry that stretches between "slightly nervous" and "acute paranoia," which lasts from approximately three months before birth until the kid's twenty-fifth birthday, at which point it settles down a bit. Usually.
I am delighted at the idea of of crowdsourcing some public-area supervision, in part because I'd get exhausted otherwise, and in part because it makes children neurotic to get ALL THEIR INFLUENCE from a single source. We're tribal, social creatures; children need to be raised in the context of a community, not as objects belonging to a single person or couple.
Yes, it's important to be able to go to a supermarket and let the kid learn to see what's available and discuss choices. And at some point, the kid should have enough autonomy to not be within 3 feet of the parent, and if the kid's half an aisle ahead, and grabs a box of cake mix and starts to open it, it's very nice if someone else snags it out of their hand and says "no, you can't eat that now; it has to be paid for first." I get a break from WATCH KID ALL THE TIME, and Kid learns that I'm not the only authority figure in the universe and other people will and are allowed to limit his or her behavior.
However, "we need appropriate public behavior guidelines in regards to minors" (and despite what the law says, those standards need to be different for 2-year-olds and 15-year-olds) is not the same as "it's your job to decide what it's appropriate for my kids to see or do, and restrict ALL children to the level of autonomy that you've decided is reasonable for 8-year-olds."
The fact that I expect other adults in public to be willing to yell, "out of the way!" if a runaway shopping cart is about to smash into my kid, doesn't mean I want that same adult to decide what my kid's reading level is and what appropriate reading material is.
Strangers in public are welcome to prevent my kid from fingerpainting with laundry supplies in the grocery store. They're not welcome to decide what my kids should be reading. I sincerely hope that other parents feel the same--that they'd be happy for me to pry their toddlers off the shelves, and would prefer I didn't hand them religious tracts while I did so.