Hear, hear…
I ran across the above website by accident last night, and I must say I like it. I know basically every childfree person in existence feels the same way as the author, and she did an excellent job putting it into words.
That’s right breeders¹! We’re not your free babysitter. Quit assuming that the world has nothing better to do than to raise your child. We didn’t have the kid. YOU did. Now take responsibility for it.
¹If you have children and find yourself offended by this term, why don’t you just take your “entitled” self on over to Childfree Clique and brush up on the true definition of the word. I’m not saying that everyone who has children falls into that category, but if the shoe fits…
Update: There is now another rant on bad parenting on the same site. It’s a thing of beauty…
December 3, 2007 at 4:14 pm
How spectacular.
I hope you don’t mind but I’d love to link your blog in our MySpace “CF & Loving It” group. I can assure you that others will appreciate this as much as you and I do…
Steph
December 3, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Link away! I have no problems at all with sharing the childfree love. Thanks for stopping by!
December 3, 2007 at 6:41 pm
That irks me too… I hate having to take care of them just by society rule because I don’t want to see a kid get hit by a car because the mother was eying up something without gripping the child’s hand properly.
December 4, 2007 at 5:44 am
Hear! Hear! That reminds me of my restaurant days, when families sitting in one room would let their kids wander into other servers’ sections. As if the other sections serve as a sort of McDonald’s Playland or something. Nevermind that we’re running around with pots of scalding hot coffee or armfuls of heavy ceramic plates. Once I even had a toddler (from someone else’s section) bothering customers in my section. Then I saw the mother was standing nearby, laughing. I said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t have your child running around my section, it can be dangerous, plus my customers are trying to enjoy a quiet meal.” Of course, she got all huffy and gave me the ever-popular, “if you don’t want children in your restaurant, you shouldn’t have high chairs here, and there should be a sign on the door!”
December 4, 2007 at 10:51 am
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=47708676&groupID=101124498&adTopicID=23&Mytoken=EBDC99B3-72D9-4237-98C441259538EBE7102086144
I linked – THANK YOU!
January 3, 2008 at 4:12 am
On the one hand, sure, parents should keep an eye on their children and should raise them to be well behaved.
However, personally, I don’t mind interacting with them occasionally in public. And that’s partly because I realize that I was a child once, and got plenty of attention and assistance from strangers.
So perhaps you could lighten up a little and realize that you, like every self-declared child-free person, were once a child, and received all of the benefits that seem to offend you now.
January 3, 2008 at 9:01 am
Yes, William, I do realize that I was once a child, but my mother did not take me to public places and just turn me loose like many parents these days do. She did not expect others to keep me out of trouble and look after me just so we could go places. And if I didn’t behave, we went home. Simple as that. Is it too much to ask for parents to actually raise their kids like they’re supposed to? No, it’s not.
I’m not the one who chose to have children, therefore, it is not my job to raise other people’s. The fact that I was a child once has nothing to do with anything.
For the record, don’t tell us to “lighten up” when it’s people like you who harass us day in and day out for the choice we have made. Maybe you are the one that should lighten up. The majority of us couldn’t care less whether or not people have kids, we just don’t want them ourselves, and we’d appreciate the same respect and acceptance from others that people give the childed for their choice.