A good example for other parents

Kids have vacation here these weeks. And sometimes they're bored (you know how that works )

Anyway, there were two boys (15 to 16 years old) who had decided that things like throwing fruit against the windows in our street, chiming the bell, and putting our trash containers right in front of the doors, were fun. We did not think so, and it really went a bit beyond "boy's fun", to be fair. Especially when they repeated it the next evening.

Fortunately one of our kids knew one of those boys from school, and also knew where he lived. So my wife went to have a chat with his mom. And yesterday night, they went through our street (together with their mom!), ringing all the doors where they had caused trouble. When they were at our door, I opened, and both kids apologized and shook hands. Their face indicated that they meant it, or at least their parents had make them mean it seriously

Three outcomes; I am sure that they won't do it again soon. I don't hold a grudge against them (and I hope the others in our street feel the same), and I have a positive impression of the parents (at least the mom of one of the boys).

We also discussed calling the police ... I think this was a better solution for all, mainly thanks to the parents of those boys!

That is good. From experience, most parents in the U.S. would have yelled at you and made it seem like you were the bad guy for bothering their kids.

Very awesome to see parents step up and hold their children responsible for their actions. In far too many places in this country if you had approached the parents about actions of their spawn, you would have been met with in indifference at best, if not outright hostility.

My wife and I managed to raise my daughter, who just turned 18, to be a reasonably responsible young human. She a good kid and has never gotten into any real trouble. For the most part, from here on out, it's up to her to put our teaching into practice. I have faith that she will do so in a manner that will make me proud.
But seeing some of her peers, it really makes me wonder why you need a license to have a dog, but not a child. (only half joking)

Great parental response to a typical situation. Boys will be boys and they are always testing boundaries. I suspect many of us here have done similar or worse things.

Proper response is what you and the parents did. Make the boys accountable. A great life lesson that will probably prevent more serious misdeeds in the future.

Kudos to all involved.

mretzloff said:

That is good. From experience, most parents in the U.S. (Canada too) would have yelled at you and made it seem like you were the bad guy for bothering their kids.

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or that their angels would never do something like that
or that if they did it, you somehow deserved it

My neighborhood in Brooklyn, Park Slope, is notorious for kids parents not disciplining their kids. Every parent here things they have given birth to the baby jesus. If you had complained to a parent there, they would have told you their child was expressing himself and we must be tolerant of other people who have different ideas.

"Boys will be boys" may be true, but only works out well when coupled with "parents will be parents".

mikeblade said:

My neighborhood in Brooklyn, Park Slope, is notorious for kids parents not disciplining their kids.

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He's not kidding.

Doc4 said:

"Boys will be boys" may be true, but only works out well when coupled with "parents will be parents".

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Agreed. Like I said, we were very happy with how their parents handled the situation.

I would not have accepted such behaviour from our kids either.

We have the same type of issues in our neighborhood. And, we have a Facebook group where all the neighbors and parents can report, discuss and complain about it. Makes me so frustrated when I hear the younger generation of parents, currently in their 20's, excuse and defend these behaviors as "kids being kids" or the excuse, they're out of school and bored. There is no excuse for any of it, and it should be dealt with by strong parents.

Its this damn buddy parent, time out, self entitled generation that's allowing the degradation of our society as a whole. Strong parenting, consequences that matter and personal responsibility, hell, even spanking, are what's needed again to turn future generations around.

CyberJCM said:

We have the same type of issues in our neighborhood. And, we have a Facebook group where all the neighbors and parents can report, discuss and complain about it. Makes me so frustrated when I hear the younger generation of parents, currently in their 20's, excuse and defend these behaviors as "kids being kids" or the excuse, they're out of school and bored. There is no excuse for any of it, and it should be dealt with by strong parents.

Its this damn buddy parent, time out, self entitled generation that's allowing the degradation of our society as a whole. Strong parenting, consequences that matter and personal responsibility, hell, even spanking, are what's needed again to turn future generations around.

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With all the grocery stores using plastic bags, the days of setting a paper bag full of dog poop on fire are gone. Ah, the good old days

oc_in_fw said:

With all the grocery stores using plastic bags, the days of setting a paper bag full of dog poop on fire are gone. Ah, the good old days

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Just go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's

oc_in_fw said:

With all the grocery stores using plastic bags, the days of setting a paper bag full of dog poop on fire are gone. Ah, the good old days

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I'd say you're going in the wrong direction, but perhaps there's no choice. I wish we could somehow reduce the number of tons of plastic wasted here in Europe. I always thought your paper grocery bags were a much better option.

nuclearblast said:

I'd say you're going in the wrong direction, but perhaps there's no choice. I wish we could somehow reduce the number of tons of plastic wasted here in Europe. I always thought your paper grocery bags were a much better option.

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Many places here are moving towards paper bags, but most people still see paper and reusable bags as something that only hippies use. We will catch up to you guys...one of these days

mretzloff said:

Many places here are moving towards paper bags, but most people still see paper and reusable bags as something that only hippies use. We will catch up to you guys...one of these days

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Yep, there's no choice really. Even if paper goes to waste, it will quickly disintegrate and it's pretty much harmless to the environment ( or at least much less prejudicial than plastic).

Plastic on the other hand ...

@OP: Good to know there's still some conscious folks!

Yutes in my neighborhood fritter away the days and nights hacking mainframes.

August West said:

Yutes in my neighborhood fritter away the days and nights hacking mainframes.

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Hi tech pranksters.

nuclearblast said:

I'd say you're going in the wrong direction, but perhaps there's no choice. I wish we could somehow reduce the number of tons of plastic wasted here in Europe. I always thought your paper grocery bags were a much better option.

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I suspect that the chemicals &c used in making the paper bags make them less than an ideal option. Maybe they're better for the environment or maybe plastic are, but if you care about the environment, then both options are "bad" and it's just a matter of which is worse.

mretzloff said:

Many places here are moving towards paper bags, but most people still see paper and reusable bags as something that only hippies use. We will catch up to you guys...one of these days

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Canada has moved from paper to plastic a lot over the past few decades ... I think more customers prefer plastic for the "easy to carry lots of bags" handles, and presumably there was a cost savings too for the stores to make the change way back when ...

Nowadays, stores encourage "bring your own bag", often by charging a nominal fee for each disposable bag. So people get "hippie bags" to reuse, to save the twenty cents each time or whatever.

... and so ...

... now ...


... there are no afterschool jobs bagging groceries to keep the kids off the streets and learning how to be a productive employee. (See how I brought that back around to the original topic there? Thread derail my sweet aunt fanny!!)

Very good points there! ^^