My damned foot

[datsunaholic]

Yeah, and why are kids in the store now anyway, seriously.

This.

Seriously? You can't just leave a 3-year old home alone when you go shopping, and this isn't exactly the best time to be finding a baby sitter on a moment's notice. Not everyone has a spare adult at home to do the shopping, and at least where I am most daycare facilities have been shut down for months.

[dales]

Seriously? You can't just leave a 3-year old home alone when you go shopping......

What a stupid statement!

I know you've never gotten laid, so you have no children.

Anyone who has ever had to care for children would know this!

It's amazing how much trouble toddlers can get into, even with mom and dad around.

[datsunaholic]

So what's your solution to the problem of a single parent needing to go to the store?

Leave the kid in the car in July? Lock the kid in the house hoping for the best? You can plan out everything to the Nth degree, and suddenly need to get milk because said kid managed to knock the carton over all over the floor. Or YOU dropped the carton. Not everyone has access to door delivery groceries, or parking lot pickup although it's getting easier. I'm not saying let the kids run amok in the store, and I'm not condoning no masks either. I'm just saying that some people have very valid reasons why they have to take their kids with them when shopping.

And no, don't go on this "should have planned better and not been a single parent" BS - one of my friends was widowed at 38 with a 3-year old daughter. A year later her own mother (who lived next door and had been helping out as much as a 75-year old with terminal cancer could) passed away, and while she does have a very large family (7 sisters) she couldn't just drop her daughter off at one of those at a moments notice.

I also don't see why you felt the need to make it a personal attack on my sex life (or lack thereof). I dropped that subject over a year ago. Just because I don't have kids does not mean I haven't been around them.

[Long Run]

You've made plenty of assumptions to support a tenuous position, Datsun. First, most of the kids I see at stores are not toddlers -- they're 10-15 years old and up. It is bad enough when two adults shop together, more than doubling their risk and our risk, but when the whole family decides it would be a fun outing to go the grocery store, let's just call them thoughtless. And in @w's example, the mother did not have a mask, so we know she was thoughtless, so no benefit of the doubt.

As for the one parent with little kids, Dales is right, even under the best of circumstances it is difficult to keep them close by. Shopping with them makes shopping harder, and longer, etc., increasing their/our risk unnecessarily. At the stores I shop at, and looking at the obvious income level, the kids being there is optional. You have a point that it may be more difficult for a single parent to figure out how to shop without their kid, but having been a single parent we figure out a lot of stuff that is tougher than how to fit in a couple of 20-30 minute shopping trips in a week. In the current environment, most people are figuring out how to be responsible which makes the thoughtless ones noteworthy.

[Crackpot]

don't know what the laws are for your locality but round here it's 14 to leave a minor unaccompanied at home. it's an odd balancing act. Especially if you factor in this odd bt of calculus. if the little shit can't behave accompanied in public with a parent would you really want that kid home alone?

[Long Run]

Leaving them home or taking them with to the store are not the only options (most of the time).

[MajGenl.Meade]

Shooting 'em is illegal though. So's nailing their foot to the floor. Right, former @W?

[TPFKA@W]

This was a case of toddler gone wild and he was in the company of 2 adult females. No masks and no supervision. It could have been avoided here though that is not always the case.

[dales]

I also don't see why you felt the need to make it a personal attack on my sex life (or lack thereof). I dropped that subject over a year ago. Just because I don't have kids does not mean I haven't been around them.

I'm sorry dats for acting the 3-year old.

Having raised 2 daughters, I was angry at your suggestion to leave them at home.

I recall shopping with my younger daughter one time and she threw a fit in the store. She was 3 or 4 at the time and wanted a package of string cheese. I said no and she threw a tantrum right in the store.

I calmly took her out of the store around the corner and gave her a good spanking. I explained to her why she was being spanked. She understood and never again acted up in the store.

She is now 30 years old and married.

My how time flies.

Again dats, please accept my apology for the childish reaction to your post.

[dales]

Shooting 'em is illegal though. So's nailing their foot to the floor. Right, former @W?

Administer heavy sedation, works for me.

[Crackpot]

Is that spanking why she’s a trump supporter?

[dales]

No C/P.

My older daughter is a die-hard Trump supporter.

My younger daughter (the one who I spanked) is not.

As far as I know she does not like Trump or his hurtful/hateful policies.

[RayThom]

Is that spanking why she’s a trump supporter?

That's funny. My daughter is a registered Democrat, too.

dales, my daughter is also 30 years old. While we were weekend visiting my parents maybe 28 years ago, she started a tantrum when my mom was trying to get her into the tub for a bath. The noise was so loud and defiant that I had to intervene. It was one large adult hand smacking a small not yet three year old's buttocks. The sound was deafening to us all, and my baby looked at me in stunned disbelief. She didn't cry, but got into the tub posthaste -- without further ado.

It was the first, and last time, I ever used corporal punishment to enforce my will upon her. She does not remember the incident but to me it is as clear as if it were yesterday. I can honestly say that as time marched on -- through all her phases, and mine -- we never reached a boiling point where bad behavior had to be addressed with physical force. Well before she started kindergarten we had an understand that me and her would talk things out -- good, bad, or indifferent. Trust was our bedrock. Sadly, with her mother there was a different dynamic but because of our divorce and separation, discipline was handled differently. Without question, my parenting method and skill had so much better results. She rarely sees her mother anymore but she calls me and stops by regularly just to keep the bond going. My rewards have been immeasurable.

dales, I don't know how your relationship is now with your daughter but I hope it's every bit as rewarding as mine is to my daughter. My life may be dimming but I have a laser beam guiding me through the shadows. Growing up together was much better than I ever expected. I am a happy dad... with a happy daughter.

[Crackpot]

No C/P.

My older daughter is a die-hard Trump supporter.

My younger daughter (the one who I spanked) is not.

As far as I know she does not like Trump or his hurtful/hateful policies.

Well I figured I had a 50% chance of landing that one

[dales]

dales, I don't know how your relationship is now with your daughter but I hope it's every bit as rewarding as mine is to my daughter.

Outside the string cheese fiasco at the supermarket, I have never once had to resort to corporal punishment with her.

I enjoy a solid and loving relationship with her even to today. I can give thanks for that.

[datsunaholic]

I also don't see why you felt the need to make it a personal attack on my sex life (or lack thereof). I dropped that subject over a year ago. Just because I don't have kids does not mean I haven't been around them.

I'm sorry dats for acting the 3-year old.

Having raised 2 daughters, I was angry at your suggestion to leave them at home.

Apology accepted.

I was really taken aback that it was thought that I was suggesting leaving children at home- I was stating the exact opposite. What didn't translate well into my typed message was the incredulous tone I was portraying... when seeing the quasi question "why are kids in the store now" I was trying to say "where else would they be?" Something got lost in translation, I didn't think it could be interpreted that I was suggesting leaving them at home unsupervised.

Around here, at least, there seem to be a lot less kids in stores than there was just 2 weeks ago. Probably due to our statewide mandatory mask order. Prior, for the last 2 months there were a LOT more than normal, due to all the kids being home from school so parents who normally did their shopping during school hours were now having to take their kids with them. With everyone home and so many restaurants closed folks have been needing to buy MORE groceries, as the normal weekly trip wasn't cutting it anymore and buying habits had to be adjusted.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I was really taken aback that it was thought that I was suggesting leaving children at home- I was stating the exact opposite.

I thought that was blindingly obvious. Have spent hours and hours being very confused. Glad it's cleared up

[ex-khobar Andy]

And without going into the rights and wrongs and twists and turns of this discussion, that was some apology, dales. I've seen a lot of not sorry apologies, especially those of the 'If anyone was stupid enough to feel hurt by what I said . . .' variety.

That was genuine, dales. Unusual (very) and refreshing these days.

[Guinevere]

Congrats @w, and well done Dales.