When The Wife and I got back to the dock after we finished our row last Friday, I asked some boys who were playing on the dock to “clear the dock”. When they didn’t respond I called out to them to “get out of the way” so they would not get hit by our oars when we were docking. They moved when I said something the second time; but their mother who was some ways away completely flipped out and said we should have said something to her rather than her kids. Firstly, we row backwards and don’t have the best vision. Secondly, if kids are playing in traffic, our first thought isn’t that there’s a parent nearby “watching” them that thinks that’s a good thing to do. Docks are for boats not playgrounds and it’s dangerous for us and them. The Wife got really, really fired up once and had quite a bit to say to their mom we landed. The woman could not understand that her kids was doing something unsafe. And, for some strange reason, she thought it was OUR fault for saying something to them. As parents ourselves, we get really annoyed with other parents who think there kids can do no wrong and it’s always someone else’s fault. Irresponsible kids grow up to become irresponsible adults. And there are far too many stories in the news about the tragic mishaps of kids people that never learned right from wrong and started associating the wrong people.
P.S. I know that it’s really Monday; but this incident was just too strange.
Nothing irks me more than people who pay absolutely no attention to their kids or what dangers that may lurk, or how annoying their behavior is. I raised my kids and don’t feel that I need to do it all over again because some parent is too involved with a phone call or texting or whatever to pay attention. I live in a community that has a couple of man-made lakes. Each year there is someone whose kid nearly dies because no one is watching or caring. Glad your wife let her have both barrels.
Old Guy: She was hanging out with her boyfriend who didn’t say a word to us, probably because he knew we were right and she was wrong. Our kids would have got in trouble for doing something like that. What if I hadn’t seen them until it was too late? The situation was a lot more dangerous than she was thinking. And, if the was a mishap, she could yell and complain all she wants but docks are for boats and not playgrounds.