Imagine you’re an 80-year-old grandpa riding a subway after a tough day at the community center. You can barely stand because your legs are too old for this world. You look around the train cart and finally manage to find a vacant spot. Blessed be the day! However, after about ten seconds, you realize why the seat was not taken.
Some annoying brat has made your bad hip his punching bag and, for some reason, is trying to crack every bone in your lower body. All while his mother successfully ignores your pain and then decides to double down on the little devil’s sick behavior, telling you it’s your fault because her wonderful angel of a child has never done this before in his life!
But from all this chaos, a hero was born—a young man whose patience was cut short. He stood up for the oppressed old man, vividly demonstrating what the mother and brat’s behavior looked like from the side. Everyone knows that when diplomacy fails, the only option remaining is to get one’s hands dirty.
So, what did the mother do wrong in this situation? Well, being raised by a decent family helps the child become a good egg. But of course, since this is russia we’re talking about, that’s about as well-behaved, as a kid can get. The environment is vital in shaping children’s behavior and development. Monkey see, monkey do, as they say.
Parents should be mindful of what they say and how they say it, especially when it’s about interacting with strangers on the subway, friends, distant relatives, and people trying to sell you a set of knives you’ll never use. For example, if your mom greets a salesperson with a Spartan kick, the child is likely to adopt a similar technique. Be respectful and kind to your neighbors even if they’re throwing rotten apples over the fence, ruining your lawn, but your other neighbors are too afraid to step in because that would be an escalation, and the rotten apples will land in their backyards. Or at least that’s what you should be doing so that your kids don’t pick up your bad habits.
Lead by example. Don’t be a dick to people around you. Wash dished after dinner. And teach your naughty child some manners, or someone else might do it instead of you.