I am not married, don't have children so I can't claim the notariety of having raised any children who are rotten kids. But, Young Stranger, and Janice and Charlene, I have to say that I do agree with you. My friend and I went on a little boat tour today, and behind us sat a young couple with two children. There was a tourguide, and as he was giving his speech, the oldest of the two children kept talking...and talking, and yelling louder than the tourguide. I wanted to turn around and tell him to be quiet, what he was doing was impolite! Throughout the afternoon, we ran into the parents and their children again and again. Believe me, that oldest one made my hand itch. And the parents just smiled nicely and didn't even have the sense to be embarassed. Now, those parents were certainly younger than I am, but couldn't have been my children, so I will include them under the umbrella of 'my generation'. I DO see what you mean, and totally agree with you that the problem with wanting to be your child's 'friend' is that you are not seen as an authority figure, you are seen as...well, a friend. And thus, the problems with today's *music* and lack of manners and...I could go on forever. It makes me SAD to see it. A lot of us said "I'll never make my children do such and such, because I hated it when my parents did it to me." So, the child was supposed to learn discipline by osmosis, right? My oldest nephew came to a concert, with his father (my brother) performed by a group in which I was a participant. My nephew brought his headphones, because he didn't want to listen to 'the old people's music'. My brother sort of shrugged his son's behavior off. The gentleman sitting in back of them pointedly told my nephew to remove his headphones, and listen to the music, or go out into the lobby and wait until the concert was over. Why did it take someone ELSE to discipline my brother's child?
And I say with a smile, what has this to do with Lightfoot? Well, my brother's son never heard of him, either!
Selene
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