Peter Hartlaub, over at one of my favorite pop culture/parenting blogs, The Poop, has an excellent post up today about the inappropriate "dates" some parents take their kids on. Peter reviews horror movies for the SF Chronicle, and has witnessed, on more than one occasion, kids whimpering in the aisles, being shushed by inattentive (and incredibly out of touch) parents, at films like "The Hitcher" and "The Devil's Rejects." I KNOW!! The previews for those films scared the shit out of me - and I'm old enough to know better. But a 4 or 5 year old? They're going to have to sleep with the lights on until they're 35.
What is it that compels parents to act like their kids are just one of their buddies? I saw a Dad - who was clearly on a third or fourth date gone horribly awry - growl at his preschool aged son for falling asleep at the dinner table, in a crowded French restaurant at 10:30 last Saturday night. I have also witnessed - I kid you not - a 4-year-old hunting squirrels with his father, and a loaded B.B. gun. Don't ask why. Because you don't want to know. And what about the Chinese woman, who took her 14-year-old son along for her gynocological exam? Or the moms who jumped in on their daughters' rumble - on the front lawn of their high school?
What's the deal with these parents? Are they stupid - or do they just not care?
