Parenting

I had a bit of a grumpy old man moment yesterday. It's an age thing! I'd decided to go for a swim and thought I'd chosen a time when any parents with kids were probably heading to MacDonalds. Sadly I was wrong. Slipping into the swimming lane, it soon became crowded as 2 then 3 more people entered the water.

After a short while I gave up swimming around other bodies and retired to the heat and safety of the sauna. Having inspected my foot that had been clawed by the long-nailed woman who seemed to think swimming diagonally across the lane was the best way to get the water to herself, I settled down to roast and watched through the window as parents stood in the pool encouraging their water-winged future Olympians to jump into the water. And that's when the grumpy old man took over and I found myself moaning about the state of parenting.

What struck me was that here were parents who probably complained when their children failed to do what they asked them to do, actively encouraging them to break the rules printed on the rather large notice as you enter the pool area. It quite clearly says: No diving or jumping into the water. It's a safety thing, not a kill-joy rule. The water simply isn't deep enough.

Maybe I'm just being picky, but if we teach our children that you can pick and choose which rules to obey based upon whether they suit you or not, then we can't really complain when they do that with our rules.

Grumpy rant over.