Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - Burger King and Monster Children

The little ones and I were at Burger King for lunch today. As usual, we made our way to the indoor playset after gorging on burgers and fries. There were a bunch of unsupervised kids on the playset already and as I watched I realized that most of the kids far exceeded the height limit of 4 feet tall. In fact, the loudest and most boisterous of the bunch was a young man of perhaps 11 years who exceeded my 5'4" height and certainly weighed a bit more than me too. My boys were rather intimidated by all the activity and it was several minutes before they would go play.

None of these kids were bad. But why do these parents let them run off unsupervised, and let them play on equipment that's not meant for them? Look, if I bring my kids to the school playground, I keep a hawk-eye watch on them, especially if there are older kids around, because the playground is meant for _them_, not for my little guys. You think these parents would call off their little monsters when there are very small children trying to have fun on a playset that's meant for the little kids.

Sorry, I'll hop off the soapbox now. My kids are just as capable of being monsters as anyone else's. When you've got small children, any larger children are potential troublemakers.

Show me a parent who thinks that their child is always an angel, and I'll show you a parent who is delusional or just plain stupid.