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Originally Posted by mixedmedia
Like a few other people here have alluded to, I'm wondering why the hell this kid had a Gameboy under the Christmas tree in the first place. If I remember tradition correctly he should have had a bag of charcoal wrapped up under there. Unbelievable.
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Spot on.
Last month, Grancey and I were walking through Target with her brother and his family (his wife and their two teenage kids). We were there supposedly for them to buy the 15-year old son an $80 video game. For some reason, the conversation turned to their family dog and Grancey's brother lamented how the two kids no longer walk the dog or clean out the catbox anymore and it's left up to their parents to do it all. Grancey very succinctly and eloquently said, "Maybe he shouldn't get a video game until he starts walking the dog."
You would have thought Grancey had suggested they put a bullet in the kid's head based on their reaction. I think the future rule for that situation is "don't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever suggest to a parent how to handle their kids." Of COURSE she was right. But....
They did not buy the video game at that point but they also didn't speak more than three syllables for the rest of the weekend. Also, the kid was royally pissed at us becase we'd ruined his new purchase.
And THAT'S why the "it takes a village" bullshit doesn' fly. I'm sure with the kid in South Carolina, many "villagers" had chimed in on his situation for years - teachers, relatives, neighbors, coaches, ministers, etc. - and good old mom had either gotten royally pissed or threatened to sue.