Spare the rod, spoil the child (child-rearing tips for aviators)

For my sanity while commisary shopping and for everyone else reading, please avoid the temptation to take the kids to the commisary with you. Leave em at home, they just get in the way. Both your life and my life will be easier. Thanks.

Screaming children in the commissary/mall/nex drive me nuts.

Running kids make me think I'm gonna get sued if "little billy" runs into me and gets a bo-bo.
Screaming kids make me wish I was totally deaf, not just kinda deaf.

I blame the being unable to beat kids anymore. I remember when if you acted like that at the grocer or mall, MOM WOULD KICK YOUR ASS! And it would HURT!

(so you didn't do it)

Though I'm not very old (25), I remember getting my ass kicked as child when I was acting like a little shit. All in all I think it served me well. I didn't grow up and get piercings, dress in all black, paint my fingernails, and whine to a shrink about how damaging my childhood was. Too many tree-embracing parents nowadays.

From a practical standpoint, I too was beat as a child and it definitely did me good.

However, if we're going to get all pseudo-intellectual about it, from a psychological standpoint beating your kids has absolutely zero positive effect on them whatsoever in the long run.








...but it does keep 'em quiet in the grocery store.

That all depends on which school of thought you prescribe to for behavioral training and its effects on personality development. I do believe Carl Rogers would be against it.

Entertaining thread.... Somehow it kept reminding me of this

All I can say is that I dearly love my children.

Still.. I have 3 blissful hours a day that they are *both in school.

I do not shop at the commissary, but Publix really is where 'shopping is a pleasure' if I go between 9-12, Monday through Friday.

Now, if I can convince the bakery lady to enroll me in the free cookie club without son in tow... Hmm..

Sincerely, I do bring at least one on occasion. They enjoy shopping with mommy.
But, I do avoid bringing both at all costs. This entails networking with other moms when husband is underway for child watch swap.. yes. And, I do mean simply to go grocery shopping sans kids. (especially over the Summer when kids are out of school!)

It is not only for my sanity, but it is a proven fact that a mom spends MORE money when children are in tow during a grocery shop. (Children can encompass husband here.. especially if he wanders alongside the meat cases)

"Ooohh...Ribeye!"

I take my son (turns 5 in 26 days) everywhere I go. The only exceptions are when I am going someplace where I know he won't have any fun (like a deer stand at 4:30 AM when it is 30 degrees out).

Little Bevo and I (and his mother for that matter) have been through hell and back just to still be together and we have a bond that is pretty strong. If you think that it's hard to take your kids to the grocery store, try 11 rounds of chemotherapy, two major surgeries, a bone marrow transplant, and 23 days of radiation. Not to mention 15 (of 18) rounds of maintenance chemo. That has been a cake walk.

I don't want to sound self-righteous and I don't pretend to be a better father than anyone. I just know better than to feel like it is a task to get up in the morning and fix breakfast, because there have been to many mornings where I would have cut off an arm just to get LittleBevo to take a single bite. You think diapers suck? Try being up in the middle of the night holding a puke bucket because your 30 pound 3 year old is throwing because of chemotherapy.

My kid is a blessing, and I do everything in my power not to waste a day with him. I hope nobody would have to go through what we did, but take it from us, don't take your children for granted.

Guys like the meat case. Women however, will blow ridiculous money on Ice Cream/Chocolate.

My boys ages 7, 13 and 19, go everywhere with me too. Commissary included, as we always end up with more than one cart to push. Of course I wouldn't take the little one on a two week back country pack trip to slay wapiti, but he'd go if I let him! I guess I am lucky, none of them act out, yell, scream, throw fits, etc... They aren't perfect by any means, but aren't out of control either, that's extremely annoying to me and Mrs Gunner aka COMNAVWIFEPAC.

The best was when I was new to the "wives' club" (just moved to NASPensacola. the first time). I was at Corry, doing our grocery shopping. I was feeling like a big girl, as this was my first "NEX/commisary experience" by myself.

There were two kids screaming their fool heads off in one of the aisles. (in retrospect, I think they were approximately my kids' ages- still in an infant carrier and toddler-ish 2 1/2 maybe?) She finally looked at them, like she 'just' heard them... Opened a can of SODA, poured 1/2 in a baby bottle and the other half in a sippy.

Saw it with my own eyes. All I could do is stare and say WTF!?

LOL! Evidently, sugar and empty calories is the answer!

I wonder how that worked out for her..

When I bring the kids out on non-grocer shopping trips, they like to come equipped with their own lists.. They are honestly a lot of fun, I just am on a rigid grocery budget and preference to shop alone! As for the commissary, as soon as I go and see that flies are not flying around the meat cases and produce dept and all meat juices are concealed INSIDE the plastic wrap, I'll be glad to continue my patronage there! Until then, Publix is my friend.

Someone PM me when conditions improve! Or, maybe I've only gone on bad days??

LOL! There's a whole new generation of guys.
'Metrosexual' is at an all time high. Have you guys not noticed this on the carriers?

I remember a few years ago, doing the homecoming for our squadron. We set up the single guy's barracks rooms. Seriously, their roomates had more toiletries and body washes stacked on their dressers than I have!

As for ice cream.. no question. I'll give you guys that. Just remember that a gallon of Blue Bell is $4.50 vs. $9.00/lb or more for steak. A gallon usually lasts more than one night.. usually.. :tongue2_1

My girls like Guinness. I do get some looks, though.

I know you are kidding, but this brings to mind neighbors we had back when I was in Jr High. They would brag about giving their ankle biter vokda martini to calm them down. We were scandalized of course and called them out on it (they were renters in my Grandma's rent house), but of course nothing was done about it.

Today, they would be in jail...

Hey now, not all kids are holy terrors. I've seen plenty that know how to behave and function properly in public. All depends what the parents are doing with them.

Bevo, sorry you went through that and I'm glad your little guy is still around.

OK, off the subject of grocery shopping, but this annoys me on a routine basis:
CHILDREN DO NOT BELONG AT BARS!
Specifically, squadron functions held at bars. Babies too small to do anything other than be held or sleep in the baby car seat all night excluded, the 2-5 year old who runs around at knee level with adults drinking all around him is endangering his/hers and everyone's safety and enjoyment.

Exactly. You can't blame a 3 year old for being a little shit. How they act at that age is a direct representation of how they are being raised, and how much backbone their parents have.

Aw hell, I remember serving beers at the VFW/American Legion hall to my dads friends...I was sitting at that very bar eating peanuts watching the World Series during the big quake in S.F. (1989?) I was 10...

Kids can be in SOME bars, under proper guidance...

Yup. But the parents who don't/won't assertively fix the problem the first time it arises are the ones to blame. They're also the ones who usually go around saying how bratty other people's kids are, but their little angels are just "going through a stage."

He is still around and been in remission for a little over a year. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis is an amazing place, and a very worthy charity. They are on the CFC card every year.

Here is a picture of my little fella playing in the snow yesterday: