Kids and their parents and caretakers: a guide to Wal-Mart transactions

[Magus]

I recently wrote a post in the Avengers topic wherein I bemoaned the state of cinemas vis a vis very small children and their being allowed entrance to them, especially when the film being shown is Watchmen, because seriously, come on, what the fuck? But I felt some specifics might be in order as to the caretaking of children within the environs of Wal-Mart. I have none of my own, of course (what am I, some kind of cretin :smug:), but I feel that some things may be self-evident. As such, here are a few tips:

1. To grandmothers: quit telling your four-year-old grandson to "hurry up and make a choice" when picking out something for him to buy at the store as you wander around, getting more and more exasperated as he picks up thing after thing after thing. He is utterly incapable of making an informed decision as to what he wants. He is distracted by all the shiny options, and I assure you he cannot grasp that he is only going to get one of them. And no, he didn't actually want Kidz Bop 18 from several years ago, lady, he wanted that copy of Horton Hears a Who he was looking at five minutes ago. What are you, retarded? Don't ever actually buy the kid the last thing he picks up, he's a kid. Pick out the thing that actually made sense from the shitload of things he was throwing around. Sheesh, is this really that hard? Man. No, he doesn't want that Kenny Chesney CD, either. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU MAKE THE DECISION YOU ARE A 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN AND HE IS THREE

2. Your six year old kid didn't almost get creamed by that car because they "don't pay enough attention", so maybe you could quit yelling at them like a harpy. Like as a rule I'm not really against yelling at kids but seriously now. They almost got creamed by that car in the parking lot because you weren't paying enough attention to where they were in comparison to the car. It's a six year old kid, they're bound to step out in cars, that's why you hold their hand constantly. Yeah, I know, they don't want you to hold their hand and whine at you to stop. Deal with it. You're not even pushing a shopping cart or anything. What is distracting you?

3. Yes, your 14 year old granddaughter or daughter or whatever wants you to spend the entirety of her birthday money on Mass Effect 3. Quit telling her that that'll leave with her with nothing left to buy other presents. She doesn't want anything else, she wants Mass Effect 3. Damn, are you deaf, or something? Jesus Christ. She gets it. Yes, for the fifth time, she doesn't want money left over for you to buy socks and school clothes. God, are you serious with this? Yes, she understands it's 60 whole dollars. What are you, from 1937? Oh, you are. Well I guess that's understandable but seriously, come on. It's Mass Effect 3. This is the opposite of the three year old conundrum in #1. I mean, seriously, now.

4. Just to reiterate my earliest point, don't buy your kids Watchmen on DVD, either. I mean, come on now. COME ON NOW

5. Letting your kids drive the cart directly into the back of my heels is right out. Maybe just drive that thing yourself, okay?

Let these simple tips guide your path through your Wal-Mart transactions when your children are in tow. Any further tips may be appended below.

[Meister]

don't buy Watchmen on DVD for anyone

[CABAL49]

Shopping at Wal-Mart? Way to give in to evil dude.

[Aldurin]

You forgot one more

6. Don't let your douchebag kids run around the aisles at high speed. Every Walmart employee silently regards children as the plague, as the slightest bump could cause them to contract a store lawsuit and fire that person.

Walmart sucks even more when you see it from the inside.

[RobinStarwing]

These rules don't just apply at Walmart sadly...

7. In regards to Smartcarts, they are not toys nor are they motorized ride-ons for your kids. They are for those with serious handicaps in movement.

8. Related to the above is if your kid is in the 1st or 2nd Grades, above the age of 6, or 2 feet tall...leave the Kiddy Carts alone please. There are usually not enough of them for everyone and trying to keep them inside is a pain.

9. Related again to the above. The basket is NOT an alternate place to put your spoiled brat when they don't want to walk. If they fit the above in No. 8...they can certainly walk around a store under their own freaking power.

If your kid has any problems with doing the above and whine about it, well if it was my own brat you would have full permission to do a Gibbs-style headslap to shut them up. If not that, then tell me they are and I will happily deal with them myself. I hate spoiled brats and there are FAR too many of them thanks to our "No one is a loser. Everyone gets something. We should talk to them instead of punish. We can be friends and parents!" philosophy of child-rearing. It makes me sick.

[Magus]

Shopping at Wal-Mart? Way to give in to evil dude.

My car also runs on gasoline!

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

If your kid has any problems with doing the above and whine about it, well if it was my own brat you would have full permission to do a Gibbs-style headslap to shut them up. If not that, then tell me they are and I will happily deal with them myself. I hate spoiled brats and there are FAR too many of them thanks to our "No one is a loser. Everyone gets something. We should talk to them instead of punish. We can be friends and parents!" philosophy of child-rearing. It makes me sick.

God damn, Robin.
Just... holy shit.

[Yumil]

These rules don't just apply at Walmart sadly...

7. In regards to Smartcarts, they are not toys nor are they motorized ride-ons for your kids. They are for those with serious handicaps in movement.

In my experience it's mostly fat lazy people. Yes, the old and frail use em too, but fat people are the biggest user of em.

10. If your child makes a mess, either knocking something down, dropping their drink, or (true story) Shitting their pants, grabbing their turd out of their pants and try to hide it by rubbing it under a shelf, please pick it up(if it's not a huge mess) or tell someone. Don't leave it there. Don't tell your child that it's someone elses job and they don't have to respect them or pretend like it didn't happen.

[Donomni]

Shitting their pants, grabbing their turd out of their pants and try to hide it by rubbing it under a shelf,

If this came from any personal experience you had, I'm sorry. The horror. THE HORROR.

[Magus]

In my experience it's mostly fat lazy people. Yes, the old and frail use em too, but fat people are the biggest user of em.

10. If your child makes a mess, either knocking something down, dropping their drink, or (true story) Shitting their pants, grabbing their turd out of their pants and try to hide it by rubbing it under a shelf, please pick it up(if it's not a huge mess) or tell someone. Don't leave it there. Don't tell your child that it's someone elses job and they don't have to respect them or pretend like it didn't happen.

I think a whole generation was/is being raised to think that cleaning up messes was someone else's job--every time a student makes a mess and I tell them to clean it up, they insist the janitor will take care of it. When I point out that it's creating extra work for the janitors they insist that "that's what they're paid for." I wish I could find a few who didn't seem to exist in a bubble of privilege that is not even remotely understandable (it's a public school in a poor rural area--not exactly high class types who maybe could go through life being arrogant shits and get away with it).

[Kim]

Robin supports child abuse.

The lessons learned from NPF threads.

[Amake]

I'm not really sure what he's getting at. It seems like Robin thinks you should encourage your kids to be competitive by calling them names and communicate with them through punishments instead of words, and hit them when they talk back. Unless that's some highly sophisticated irony I want to take this opportunity to urge you in all seriousness, Robin, to stay away from your children if you have any.

Like, we've had our differences in the past, but this is beyond any personal dislike of you I may have. If that is your idea of parenting it is something you need to not do.

Personal anecdote time. My aunt raised my two cousins to feel bad about not working harder than everyone else. One of them suffers from chronic insomnia and such a fundamental inability to sit and wait for things to happen that it's led to his utter financial ruin despite working among the top of his field in the country. The other suffers from professionally diagnosed anxiety and works so hard at her dead end job that she regularly has to go on sick leave from the stress and then struggle with depression over being unable to work. Neither of them are in any way capable of stable romantic relationships; neither will likely ever be able to describe themselves as happy.

So you can maybe see my personal distaste of trying to make your kids be competitive. But then that's only the least questionable part of Robin's post.

[RobinStarwing]

I'm not really sure what he's getting at. It seems like Robin thinks you should encourage your kids to be competitive by calling them names and communicate with them through punishments instead of words, and hit them when they talk back. Unless that's some highly sophisticated irony I want to take this opportunity to urge you in all seriousness, Robin, to stay away from your children if you have any.

Like, we've had our differences in the past, but this is beyond any personal dislike of you I may have. If that is your idea of parenting it is something you need to not do.

Personal anecdote time. My aunt raised my two cousins to feel bad about not working harder than everyone else. One of them suffers from chronic insomnia and such a fundamental inability to sit and wait for things to happen that it's led to his utter financial ruin despite working among the top of his field in the country. The other suffers from professionally diagnosed anxiety and works so hard at her dead end job that she regularly has to go on sick leave from the stress and then struggle with depression over being unable to work. Neither of them are in any way capable of stable romantic relationships; neither will likely ever be able to describe themselves as happy.

So you can maybe see my personal distaste of trying to make your kids be competitive. But then that's only the least questionable part of Robin's post.

I am not advocating that. I am advocating that people discipline and keep their kids behaved and not annoying or even endangering everyone around them with their misbehaving. Also, said slap is more of a light tap than anything else. A little healthy fear of your parents is NOT a bad thing. Do keep in my I was raised by my mother mainly and she was raised by her Grandma who was a strict Catholic on the discipline.

But to re-iterate (despite what Liz may think but if she doesn't want people telling her that her opinion is wrong, why not respect others even if you disagree), I don't condone child-abuse. I advocate using discipline up to and including spanking (one swat on the hind end and never in anger for things that endanger a child's own self, another's self, or property). If old enough made to write what they did down a few times.

As to my own son, I tried to tell my now Ex we weren't ready to be parents Amake and she still decided we are having the kid and not even doing an Open Adoption. I will let my Ex discipline him and her idea of discipline has raised a spoiled brat if my Dad and his wife's take on the situation is accurate (and my little bro backs this up). She is more wishy-washy than anyone I know on making sure kids behave and with her family's dynamic...I fear she will raise a Hitler in the making.

I repeat, I got nothing to do with her and my son other than paying Child Support. I do this so that she can't use my son to try and control us both because I believe this is more harmful to my son than anything I could possibly dream up. Throw on the fact that she is seriously psycho until cops are called (than she is all normal...damn attention whore bitch!) and said family...the reason we broke up was because I had made clear repeatedly being around her family made me very uneasy and could we do the visits at my place instead.

[Seil]

We should talk to them instead of punish.

Because my internet is shite at the moment, I can't Google the study, but apparently it's best to reward your child for a good deed rather than punishing them for a bad deed.

Reinforcement, don't you know.

[RobinStarwing]

In my experience it's mostly fat lazy people. Yes, the old and frail use em too, but fat people are the biggest user of em.

10. If your child makes a mess, either knocking something down, dropping their drink, or (true story) Shitting their pants, grabbing their turd out of their pants and try to hide it by rubbing it under a shelf, please pick it up(if it's not a huge mess) or tell someone. Don't leave it there. Don't tell your child that it's someone elses job and they don't have to respect them or pretend like it didn't happen.

I feel stupid double posting but will anyways. I've got a personal experience along these lines and I had front row seat to it!

I had to use the restroom and the store I originally worked at had one urinal and one stall. I was in the stall. An old guy came in and saw that the stall was in use. His next move was to use the urinal to do number two.

That's right...he crapped in the urinal with me in the stall.

He left and I immediately finished my business 1and told management but before we could do anything, the fucker was gone and guess who had to clean it up. Granted, it got me awesome points with management but still...

Also from personal experience and one I wanted to get down.

11. Do not engage any of us in religious talk. Some of us don't give a damn that Jesus will help us if we pray or that the reason you shop at the store is because we so many Good Christians. The former makes some of us nervous, especially if we aren't Christians and sounds like attempts at converting. The latter is stupid because you don't know any of these people. Some of them may not be Christians at all and the ones that are maybe in reality the biggest dipshits you would ever meet if you met them outside the store. So please, SHUT UP ABOUT JESUS WHEN YOUR SHOPPING!

The personal experience is there is a woman that stops and talks to me whenever she sees me and is close enough about this very shit. Enough said.

[Seil]

I work for a Korean family in their convenience store. There are only a handful of Koreans living in town, not counting foreign exchange students. They tend to make friends with and hang out with other Koreans.

That's cool. That doesn't bother me. The thing is that the only other people in town are Jehovah's Witnesses, don't speak English very well, and are absolutely insistent that I hear the word of our Lord and Saviour.

And I can't be rude or pushy because they're friends with my boss.

[Magus]

Please, if you're going to beat your kids at least be willing to use a crowbar and properly cripple them so they can't run around getting into trouble. All this namby pamby slapping and spanking makes me sick.

[Amake]

A little healthy fear of your parents is NOT a bad thing.
You're confusing what's good for your kids with ways to make your job of raising them easier. Here's a hint: Those two things are typically mutually exclusive. (http://www.nospank.net/straus9.htm)

[Sifright]

You're confusing what's good for your kids with ways to make your job of raising them easier. Here's a hint: Those two things are typically mutually exclusive. (http://www.nospank.net/straus9.htm)

It's hard to take a study seriously when it is seriously proposing that

Endless hours watching TV violence and practicing killing in the form of video games (Anderson and Dill, 2000)

Is related to crime incidence rates

[Osterbaum]

I think a whole generation was/is being raised to think that cleaning up messes was someone else's job--every time a student makes a mess and I tell them to clean it up, they insist the janitor will take care of it. When I point out that it's creating extra work for the janitors they insist that "that's what they're paid for." I wish I could find a few who didn't seem to exist in a bubble of privilege that is not even remotely understandable (it's a public school in a poor rural area--not exactly high class types who maybe could go through life being arrogant shits and get away with it).
To be fair, younger students are more likely to not clean up after themselves because they're lazy or they're rebelling or they don't care or whatever, but all of these reasons often fade away once they grow a bit older; to put it more simply, they usually become less self centered with a bit more age. Also, I doubt that all parents are actually raising their kids to be like that.

[Aldurin]

It's hard to take a study seriously when it is seriously proposing that

Endless hours watching TV violence and practicing killing in the form of video games (Anderson and Dill, 2000)

Is related to crime incidence rates

And oddly enough, this is an easier one to deal with for parents. DON'T GIVE YOUR KIDS THE DAMN GAME!

While I'm not a parent, my little brother is seven years younger than me and a bit more impressionable than I was at his age, so I've always taken note of what video games I should and shouldn't pass down (the only T-rated ones I've let him play so far are the Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter series, to give you an idea). I'll probably hold off a few years before I let him into the darker T games like inFamous. My point is that regulating what games and movies your kids should and shouldn't watch is actually very easy and the reason so many people fail at it is because they're too insanely lazy to even look at the little square on the corner of the box to figure out if 7-year old Billie Bob should be playing Grand Theft Auto and Bulletstorm.

[Sifright]

And oddly enough, this is an easier one to deal with for parents. DON'T GIVE YOUR KIDS THE DAMN GAME!

While I'm not a parent, my little brother is seven years younger than me and a bit more impressionable than I was at his age, so I've always taken note of what video games I should and shouldn't pass down (the only T-rated ones I've let him play so far are the Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter series, to give you an idea). I'll probably hold off a few years before I let him into the darker T games like inFamous. My point is that regulating what games and movies your kids should and shouldn't watch is actually very easy and the reason so many people fail at it is because they're too insanely lazy to even look at the little square on the corner of the box to figure out if 7-year old Billie Bob should be playing Grand Theft Auto and Bulletstorm.


well I'm pretty sure lazyness is the biggest factor in child rearing bar anything else.

The influence of games for a childs morals wouldn't really be an issue if parents took the time to explain things to their children more often parents have ridiculous amounts of control over how their children form

[Magus]

To be fair, younger students are more likely to not clean up after themselves because they're lazy or they're rebelling or they don't care or whatever, but all of these reasons often fade away once they grow a bit older; to put it more simply, they usually become less self centered with a bit more age. Also, I doubt that all parents are actually raising their kids to be like that.

No, these were 9th and 10th graders. They are probably at the apex of their snottiness at this age. Seniors are usually more conscientious, though there is a certain subset of seniors who are also immature.

I'm being a bit hyperbolic anyway, as there are many students of that age who do clean up after themselves. I just can't believe I run into any people who think that way (I have met adults with the same outlook, unfortunately, which I guess means they never progressed past the mindset of a 15 year old).

[DarkDrgon]

Parents... can you not use employees as the bad guys to get your kids to behave? twice today while I was working, I had a customer come up to me and say "behave, or the store-man will take your toy/call your father"

just... no. I even had one customer I notice coming in say "if you're good, you can have this toy" then take it away once they got to the register, saying that I said he wasn't behaving enough.

[Magus]

I wonder if that would create an irrational hatred or fear of clerks later in life, like that of clowns or the police.

[Terex4]

Eh, I had a long-ish response in my head, but really it boils down to: I take 4 kids into the store all the time. It's not hard to keep an eye on them. I have to give constant instructions to keep all 4 in line, but, at this point, it's second nature so I don't really feel like it's "work" to do so.

If you're going to have kids, put some damned effort into it. None of us are particularly "good" at the job, but damn it, kids aren't just a consequence of sex :mad:

[Krylo]

Parents... can you not use employees as the bad guys to get your kids to behave? twice today while I was working, I had a customer come up to me and say "behave, or the store-man will take your toy/call your father"

just... no. I even had one customer I notice coming in say "if you're good, you can have this toy" then take it away once they got to the register, saying that I said he wasn't behaving enough.

You should totally roll on up and be like, "Nah he was fine," and then put the toy back on the register.

[RobinStarwing]

Parents... can you not use employees as the bad guys to get your kids to behave? twice today while I was working, I had a customer come up to me and say "behave, or the store-man will take your toy/call your father"

just... no. I even had one customer I notice coming in say "if you're good, you can have this toy" then take it away once they got to the register, saying that I said he wasn't behaving enough.


That. Is. Assinine.

[EVILNess]

That. Is. Assinine.

Look at the child and say "I don't care if you have the toy." or "I think you are being pretty well behaved." I used to work at a Wal-mart, and I did this all the time.

The look on a parent's face is amazing when they realize they have to explain why they can't have the toy now that you have said they could.

Best part is I only had one person say something to a manager. EVER. This is probably because it is a rather embarrassing thing to be called out on and to admit to another adult. All the manager said was to be careful what I said to customers and sent me on my way, despite Wal-mart being a shit hole most of the managers were associates at some point so they tend to sympathize with little shit like that.

As for spankings, I feel there is a place for them in raising a child. They aren't the be-all-end-all solution some say they are, shouldn't be all you use as punishment for sure, and may not be the best punishment (But what is? that is a per child thing found through trial and error), but to all of you who have never raised a child should probably not judge too harshly. Raising a kid is a messy and chaotic thing and we can't always do what it ideal. You do the best you can and try not to cross the line of discipline and slip into child abuse, physical or not.

[Seil]

I got spanked as a kid and looked how I turned out. You don't want to turn out like me, do ya'?

[CABAL49]

I never got spanked and look how I turned out.

[Seil]

SPANK YOUR KIDS, FOLKS! SPANK YOUR TEENAGERS, JUST TO MAKE SURE!

[akaSM]

THAT WON'T BE ENOUGH, WE HAVE TO SPANK OURSELVES

WE

CANNOT

TAKE

ANY

RISKS

[Satan's Onion]

Can't really say that it does anything for me, tbh I much prefer a tickle to a slap

I'm sorry what were we talking about again