[nikki1920]

People want to be friends with their kids, which IMO, is not the best approach to take when they are still kids. My mom and I are friends NOW, but I'm 30, out of the house and have a child. She taught me that parents are to be feared (to an extent) and respected. "I'm your MOTHER, not your FRIEND" was something I heard when I thought I was grown.

People also don't want to be seen in public as being mean to their kids. Negro, please. I took my daughter out to dinner as an early Christmas gift, and the child across the aisle from us was yelling, climbing on the booth, cursing (muthaf***er, repeatedly), and his mother and grandmother were just talking like NOTHING was going on. My daughter looked at him and was like, "Mommy, he is a baaad boy. He needs a spanking. That is not how you are supposed to act when you go out." and shook her head. Lesson learned.

If its a friend of mine, I'll tell the kid to use your indoor voice or what have you. If THAT doesnt work, they get the Mommy look. That works.

I mean, parenting should not be rocket science.