Just one more anecdote from the cruise, but I promise it will lead into a bigger point.
If you've ever been on a cruise, you know that most have big-stage nightly entertainment - real Broadway style productions with singing, dancing and some impressive talent. Other nights the entertainment might be a comedian, magician or musical act.
One night on our cruise, Nancy and I went to the 9:30 p.m. performance of a comedian. Mind you, that's the LATE show. "Night life" is a relative term depending on your locale.
Anyhow, looking down into the lower echelon of seats, we spotted something very disturbing - a stroller parked along the wall. Here's why this gave us pause: It meant that somewhere in the crowd a small child was being kept up by its parents, with a distinct possibility for loud crying or fussing as time ticked further and further past the kid's bedtime. In other words, anyone sitting in the theater could have their enjoyment of the show disrupted, thanks to a parent(s) who just HAD to be at that show.
Thankfully this particular child was never heard from, having apparently fallen asleep. Or maybe he/she was just so smart for their age that they enjoyed the show along with the rest of us and kept quiet.
Here's the bigger point: What were these parents thinking?
In recent years I've noticed a growing trend of people taking small children to late-night events. The kids are either completely zonked out or so overtired that their screaming makes life miserable for everyone around. Uh, shouldn't these kids be home in bed getting the rest that is so important at that age?
A few years ago I witnessed a small parade of people pushing strollers as they left Summerfest - after midnight! It was astounding!
Parenting is about sacrifice. An adult can't do everything they did in their pre-parenting life. It's as simple as that. The kid(s) comes first, and that means giving up some activities that don't mesh with a child's schedule. It's called responsibility.
Responsibility is a heavy concept for some people, I acknowledge. So is courtesy. When neither clicks in a person's mind, that's when we find them dragging their child around at 10:30 p.m. in a public place. The kid's not happy, nor are the rest of us who have to endure the loud outbursts that quite naturally come from a kid who just wants to be home in bed.
Next time, parents, think carefully about everyone who bears the brunt of your decisionmaking - not just your child, but every other person within earshot.
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I know what you mean. On one side of our family, our children are the only grandkids. When they were younger their mother kept to a pretty strict schedule for bedtime. We live a few hours away from our family, and our relatives never really seemed to understand why we would leave the holiday party by 8PM, so to make sure the kids got to bed only two hours later then usual.
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