And WE aren't fit to be parents!?

Caution: I am feeling very irritated so the following post will reflect that sentiment!!

Tonight HJ and I had the unfortunate experience of going to a "big box" store with a snackbar-- where we decided to share a pretzel and an iced tea. As we sat in a booth, we noticed a large variety of poor parenting. One dirty young man, who I will fondly call TSOS (the spawn of satan), was of particular interest to us. He ran to the soda dispenser and wasted several quarts of cola as his father sat and silently watched him. HJ and I stared openly at Spawn and his father until the brain trust father finally got uncomfortable and told his spawn to stop. HJ and I were hooked on the show: it was like a train wreck we could not look away from! Then the boy ate some pizza with a messiness I did not know was even possible. And the grand finale was when the boy began spitting on the floor!! Again HJ and I gaped with disdain! Now the brain trust father did tell his spawn to stop and even cleaned up the floor. It appears that the father was now using his very best parenting skills!! As the family got up to leave, the boy again ran to the soda machine to waste more liquid. The father did yell at the boy and the boy decided to stop after about an minute but he was in no hurry as he know that there would be no consequences from his sloth-like father. Did I mention that the boy was at least 8 years old?

We witnessed a wealth of other poor parenting examples in addition to coatless pregnant teens in flip flops. But truly the spawn and his sloth-like brain-trust father were our favorites. We left in a huff, talking about the general decision-making skills of the higher power that decides who does and does not get to become parents. I know that this is a bad path to explore and I try to avoid it....but here I am again.

Perhaps tomorrow I will post about something I am thankful for.