There is no denying that raising children is demanding and does not bring immediate benefits.
A young child can be irrational, cruel, and unpleasant to other people. Some parents go to great lengths to discipline their children. However, some parents have to sign up for etiquette courses themselves.
“My cousin and her baby are staying with us for a while, this is what she usually gives her 5-year-old son for breakfast.
Not even that she thanked me.
Yesterday I had a strange toddler dozing on my lap. Even though his mother was acting weird, it was nice. I invited the child to sit on my lap as the bus was already full. He fell asleep during the long ride and when I got out I lost his mother.
She was sitting right behind me, but for whatever reason she forgot to pick up her son.
She laughed, “Got it!” and reached for the child when I told her I was leaving. That amazed me. She got irrationally angry with me and refused to say thank you. © VK / department 6
“A mother-in-law is changing her baby on the carpet when the table is only 6 feet away.
When the mother is entitled to something:
A close friend asked me to babysit her 5-year-old son for an hour. The child is incredibly spoiled, naughty, and hyperactive. So an hour or maybe two passed and the friend still hadn’t shown up.
I called her to ask when she would pick him up. She said she won’t be here until tomorrow because she needs to shop and sleep and I have to assist her and take care of her baby.
I dressed her boy, took him out, and wrote to her that I would leave him on the street if he did not appear. She immediately picked up her son, but took offense! © VK / Dried
“On the 8-hour flight, a woman and her two-year-old child sat next to me.”
“The child cried and screamed the entire flight, repeatedly shoved cutlery into me from the in-flight meal, and poured water on me.” The woman refused to help her child settle down, placed her trash on my food tray before throwing it on the ground, and insisted that the staff turn off the air conditioning on the plane because it was “harming her and her baby.”
It was not a very pleasant morning.
My boyfriend called me Friday night to come visit. I decided to support her, offered to make dinner, went shopping, and headed to the store. After dinner and conversation, we retired to our beds.
The boy was banging my head when I woke up at seven in the morning, his mother standing nearby, smiling widely and saying, “He wants to play with you.” I’m not friends with her anymore. ©
Pikabu/Trubadurochka1
“People were standing on the train so her baby could nap across 2 seats and the stroller was blocking the third.”
Who is to blame in this case?
For my birthday, one of my friends arranged to meet me at a restaurant. We will have fun at the bar on site. My husband and I are planning to hire a babysitter for the evening, but we still have a 3-year-old.
We rented a secluded chamber with a bar. Missy, another friend of mine, has a daughter who is five years old. She said she would bring her. I suggested paying my nanny more to babysit her daughter.
Missy refused, saying she didn’t want to babysit her daughter after she spent the day at preschool.
I replied, “I understand, but I don’t think she should be here.” Like many five-year-olds, baby Missy is restless and likes to run around. Missy admits that he doesn’t take her out to dinner much because she’s awkward in social situations. However, I also know that Missy, who is quite permissive, will sort of let her.
I told the friend who organized it that I didn’t want any children. I hired a sitter for my child for a purpose. The friend notified Missy not to drive her daughter and he agreed. Now that Missy had lost her cool, she decided not to go.
“My roommate always leaves the tub in the same state after she’s bathed her baby. We’ve had many conversations about this.”
No need to act right.
When a small child, maybe five years old, was taken to a hair salon for a haircut and placed in a chair shaped like a car, it immediately began to break.
The hairdresser scolded him to behave.
Subsequently, his mother jumped out of her seat and started shouting: “We will not behave properly! Son, go your own way and ignore the advice of others.” She proceeded to tell a shocked world that she was raising a leader and had given her child complete control.Â
How to break up with someone you know
Sometimes I assist my neighbor, who works from home with a 1-year-old, babysitting a 5-year-old. I like her baby Jack. Joe, my three-year-old son, and I both work from home, so the boys are close friends.
When he comes here, I will feed him, look after him for free, and cover the costs of our business. I took Jack inside the gym the other day. I usually give it three to five hours.
She never offered me money and I never asked for it. The problem is that Jack is almost always unwell when he visits!
The cough, the runny nose—it was impossible for Jessica not to be aware of it. After seeing Jack a few times, everyone in my household got sick, we lost our jobs, had to pay for medical care and prescription drugs, and couldn’t spend Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. Regardless, I haven’t said anything until now.
Me: “Hey honey, I need to talk to you and it’s a little weird… Our whole household has gotten sick four times in the last five times we’ve watched Jack. I know it’s not your intention, but Jack visited us when he was sick, more than once and I have to ask you to be honest about anything that might happen or that he’s healthy if we watch him again.” My neighbor: “Honestly, I find this very offensive and I believe our friendship is over.”
“My step-sister’s Easter baskets for her kids, she’s always crying because she doesn’t have money.”
It seems pointless to teach a child manners when you can simply say, “Kids will be kids.”
We just had a birthday party for my five-year-old. My cousin, who is a single mother, has a very mischievous six-year-old. He is loud, unruly, and scary in public.
He came and stood right next to my child when it was time to blow out the candles and cut the birthday cake. I urged my husband to support this child in case he tried to pull something because I knew what was going to happen next.
This kid was trying to blow out the candles as we finished singing. My husband kept rejecting him and pulling him back and we could see the baby getting irritated. My son ended up blowing out the candles and the cub went completely crazy. When he lost it, he lunged and slammed his entire arm into the cake, smashing it against the table.
Everyone stopped talking and gasped at how embarrassing it was. My son wanted to cry when he looked at us. My husband grabbed him and tried to diffuse the situation by whispering to him that we had another special cake, especially for him that we didn’t have. He seemed to settle down after that.
His mother disappeared. After the party, since my cousin wasn’t present, I talked to her about what happened and she dismissed it saying “Kids will be kids.” She gave me a strange look when I advised her to pay for the damaged cake.Â
“Let your child watch a movie in a restaurant at full volume”
Losing a Childhood Friend: A Guide
We were friends since we were young, but after she got married and had a baby, we didn’t see each other for a while. But then she asked me to celebrate her birthday at her house. At that time, the young man was three years old and had more free time.
I was relieved to speak and finally see her. When I got there, I assumed there would be more people there, but it turns out she only invited me. Her child is irritable when there are many people in the house. That’s okay.
She stopped me right at the door, gave me a big truck, and said, “Give him the toy as if it were a gift from you.” After handing it to him, the young man looked at me skeptically and left to play. We just sat in silence for about twenty minutes.
When her child lost interest in the truck, she approached us and started screaming, crying, and demanding things. My friend tried to calm him down by giving him juice, candy, games, and other things. I haven’t been there for a long time. After my wife or my 20-year-old youngest son cooked dinner, my kitchen looked like this:
Not polite
I went with my friend to cook with my parents in the countryside. My brother’s family also attended. They brought their child with them.
They didn’t even try to split the cost of the meat or assist us with the preparation. However, they tried to offer unwelcome suggestions on how to season or grill the meat. However, this was insignificant given the following events.
Their child suddenly screamed “I want to go to the bathroom” as soon as we sat down at the table. There are two toilets: one located inside the house and one outside. Rather, my brother used the potty to let his son relieve himself in the middle of the dining area. I packed everything up and left because I couldn’t take it anymore.
Raising children is undoubtedly a problem, but some parents seem to overlook the importance of teaching their children basic manners and respect for others. While many parents go to great lengths to instill good manners in their children, others neglect this responsibility, leading to situations where their children misbehave in public. As these stories reveal, parents’ actions—or lack thereof—can often create unpleasant or frustrating experiences for those around them. Whether it’s allowing children to behave without consequences, shirking their responsibility, or expecting others to accommodate their bad decisions, such behavior reflects the need for greater attention to etiquette.
In many of these cases, the problem is not only the children but also the parents who fail to guide them properly. Ignoring basic morals, excusing bad behavior, or putting undue burdens on others highlights a disturbing sense of entitlement. These incidents, while often frustrating for those involved, serve as a reminder of the importance of teaching children respect, gratitude, and consideration for others. Good parenting ultimately involves more than meeting a child’s basic needs – it requires cultivating a sense of responsibility and empathy that will help them grow into respectful and well-behaved adults.