[girlangler]

Amen.

Modern Baby Boomer parents aren't parents anymore, they want to be their kid's "friends."

I love kids, don't have any of my own, but have loved and cared for many. My conclusion is kids want discipline.

I've had kids destroy my property while their parents explain away their behavior as "Well, he is just trying to express himself."

I tell the parent that (on my property) precious doesn't express himself at my expense. And if he does, parent will pay for the damage.

Also, I discovered, many years ago, a good way to stop a temper tantrum in a store. When the kid is screaming "I WANT THAT TOY," simply drop to the ground, contort your face, and scream "I want a Mercedes, I want a new house, I want a cruise," and scream it to the top of your lungs, just like the kid.

EVERY time I've used that tactic the kid gets embarrassed, shuts up, and ends the tantrum, in fact begs me to quit and leave the toy department.

Of course, that might be because everybody is staring at me/us :)

[Melas]

I love kids, don't have any of my own, but have loved and cared for many.

In my experience that places you in the category of people who are mostly likely to give parental advice. I've noticed that it's never the parents who have all the answers, but always the person (usually female) with no children of his/her own, but who's been exposed to children just enough to know it all.

[Kimmers]

"Also, I discovered, many years ago, a good way to stop a temper tantrum in a store. When the kid is screaming "I WANT THAT TOY," simply drop to the ground, contort your face, and scream "I want a Mercedes, I want a new house, I want a cruise," and scream it to the top of your lungs, just like the kid. "

LOL...I did exactly that and it worked....only at that time I wanted a BMW...

[HungarianGypsy]

I always like to mention on these threads the story of my husband going into Wal-Mart one afternoon and seeing a 6 year old girl scaling up her mom, pulling her by the shirt and yelling, "I want that tow NOW." When the mother didn't do something about this, he said, "You need to beat your kids more," then walked off.
My children are far from perfect and we have had some "hauling them out to the car" moments. When people do ask about how we get our kids to behave my husband will start on the bearting line, even though we don't. I still remember when we bought our house my oldest closed himself in the front closet and said, "This is where you can put us if we act up." Went over great when my mother-in-law was looking at the house.

[murdoog]

It's a shame you don't have any kids. It sounds like you are really good with them.