Field Trip?

Today’s question is:  Why would someone agree to attend their child’s field trip and then spend the whole time on their smart phone?

Background:  A couple of months ago I attended a 1 hour field trip with one of my children.  We went to this really cool place and got an inside view of something really cool.   Field trips can be so fun and informative.

Right after we arrived we were standing around this man who is telling us all about how the plant runs and he was showing us all sorts of things on his computer.  It was really interesting (I really loved it, can you tell?).

So…….

Out of the corner of my eye I see one of the moms frantically clicking away on her smart phone.  She isn’t paying attention to anything going on in the moment, only whatever she is doing on her phone.  Then I notice her child.  Her child saw her.  Her child watched her as she totally ignored all that was going on in the present and clicked away at that phone.  And it made me think “what is so important it can’t wait 1 hour?”  Why do people think what is happening somewhere else is more important that what is happening right in front of them?

For all of you out there that want to say, well maybe she works, here is what I have to say.  If she took the time off from work to attend this field trip she should be able to NOT work for the 1 measly hour it trip took.  It all comes down to a decision, she decided to attend the field trip, so she should have been there, more than just physically.

December 5, 2011 @ 2:37 pm

Pick up?

Today’s question is: Why do people have mobile phone conversations while they are picking up their children from play dates?

Background:  The other day one of my children had a friend over to play.  It was getting late and the mom arrived to pick up her child.  I answered the door and she was talking to someone on her mobile phone.  Barely pausing her conversation she asked for her child.  I went to get her child and then she left.  It was as if she didn’t want the person on the phone to know she was doing something else.

This seriously makes me scratch my head.  If the mobile conversation was so important why not just finish it before walking to the door?  It is as bad as answering the phone while you are dining with friends, and talking on your mobile while you are checking out in the grocery store (or anywhere).  Give it a break already.

I wonder, does she consider what she is teaching her child?

November 28, 2011 @ 12:23 am

chewing?

Today’s question is: Why don’t people teach their kids to chew with their mouths closed?

Background:  This is a pet peeve of mine.  This is also something that has stumped me for quite some time.  I simply do not understand why people don’t encourage their children to chew with their mouths closed.  Have you ever gone to a business dinner or on a date and have the person next to you 1. talk with his/her mouth full of food? 2. Chew with his/her mouth open? or 3. Chomp so loudly and open that you can actually see what is in their mouth?  They are all distracting, all impolite, and very hard habits to break as an adult.

When we have other children over at the house I often have to say to them during our meals to please chew with their mouths closed and please do not speak with a full mouth of food.

Why don’t people teach their children this?  Can’t they picture them on dates or at business dinners like I can?

Do your kids a favor, encourage them to be conscience of their eating habits, it can’t hurt.

May 16, 2011 @ 2:04 pm

airplane bathrooms?

Today’s question is: Why do people make such a mess in the bathrooms on airplanes?

Background: This is not the first time I’ve asked myself this question, and I’m fairly certain it won’t be the last.  Why do people not wipe up their pee on the toilet seat when they are finished on an airplane?  Do they seriously think others on the plane have options when it comes to using a toilet?  And what about the pee on the floor?  Have people no manners?

Being a short person, I find using the toilets on the plane a challenge.  I refuse to sit,  and balancing above proves to be quite a challenge on the airplane (especially if there is turbulence).  It is so hard to avoid pee down the front of the toilet and on the seat, I regularly have to clean it up first.  I often wonder why people don’t just clean up after themselves so that when others follow, they don’t have to do their dirty work.  I don’t want to clean up pee after other people!

I think if everyone imagined the person they respected most entering the bathroom after them, they just might do what’s right and keep it clean.

It’s really not all that hard to look down and see if you’ve left anything behind.  Just do it!

April 2, 2011 @ 12:09 pm

Airplane??

Today’s question is:  Why don’t people have any manners (or sense) on airplanes?

Background:  I recently took two flights to Mexico.  One was with my children and one was not.  My children have flown several times and from the first time they began flying I laid down the law about what was and was not acceptable while flying.  When flying with children here are the important rules:
1. absolutely no kicking the seat in front of you, EVER.  no pushing against it either. 
I have no intention of fighting with some poor soul on a plane over this.
2. when the seatbelt sign is on, your seat belt is on, NO EXCEPTIONS, ever.
pottying is technically the only exception, of course.
3. No screaming or general misbehaving, EVER. 
strict consequences for this one.  once I told them if they misbehaved they would sit by the edge of the pool while everyone else swam for 30 minutes when we reached our destination.  Worked like a charm.
On our second flight to mexico, we had 3 year old twins in front of us.  They were terrible and dare I say bratty.  The mom had absolutely no control over them.  The didn’t listen. They constantly screamed, refused their seatbelt, even though the flight attendant came by several times to do the seatbelt parenting the parents couldn’t handle, and they constantly stood in their seats looking over at us (that was actually kinda cute, but if they were my kids I wouldn’t find that behavior so cute).  Those parents needed to lay down the the airplane law, seriously.
On a flight I was on several years ago some woman was applying nail polish.  Is that the rudest thing ever?  I was shocked that the woman thought the confines of the airplane was the best place for toxic smelling nail polish.  I think someone put a stop to that whole business because the smell only lasted 15 or so minutes, it’s that or I just shut it out.
Finally, peanuts.  Sometimes I seriously wonder how they could still give out peanuts on a plane or sell them in the airport.  There are so many people with severe peanut allergies these days that the mere opening of a bag of peanuts into the recirculated air on an airplane could send those spores a-flyin’ and send some poor unsuspecting soul into anaphylactic shock.  Do people not realize that having an anaphylactic reaction on board means IMMEDIATE landing?  It has the potential of a major delay.  Why doesn’t everyone know this?  Even with 2 epi pens (and those severe reaction people probably travel with 4 epi pens, which is 2 more than normal) the person with a reaction would need medical attention soon, landing is mandatory.  
We need to somehow give people sense and teach them to fly with manners.  Flying is like cattle herding with slightly better conditions, no?
April 23, 2009 @ 9:11 pm