When people find out that I work for the library they always heave a big sigh and remark that it would be so nice to work in a library. How fun it would be to read books all day and work somewhere where it's quiet. Sometimes I just nod politely, not wanting to destroy their happy little bubble, but other times I can't help but laugh out loud. They look at me very quizzically and ask why I'm laughing. Some days working at the library is like working at Walmart on Black Friday....loud and annoying.
Screaming children are only the beginning...but what an earsplitting, wince-inducing beginning. Before I worked at the library I didn't know the difference between a scream, a yell or a shriek. I most definitely know the difference now! A yell isn't too bad, a scream can be annoying, but when the shrieking begins I want to check out completely. Those are the moments when I wished we could still seriously ask people to leave for being noisy. I understand that you have the most beautiful child ever birthed (gag), but when it's shrieking like that I think it's one step above a demon from the deepest pit of hell. Take them outside, calm them down, then come back to the library...don't wander around for another 45 minutes looking at movies, books, etc and inflict that pain on the rest of us. We didn't have that child...why should we be punished by it?
Now before you think I hate children, let me state something: I LOVE kids! I really do. They are so funny to watch. Their brains work so differently and it's so interesting to see them process things. But just because I love kids doesn't mean I love how annoying they're becoming. And I don't entirely blame the kids...some are old enough to know better, but I blame more parents than kids. Parenting today sucks. It's sad because the kids are going to be the ones that suffer for it the most. We live in an age of free style parenting, the idea that anything goes. "Free expression!" Baloney. I call it lazy parenting. It's too hard to stick to rules and enforce discipline because it requires follow through. It requires work on the parents' part. And people are lazy. Stop being selfish (because that's exactly what it boils down to) and lazy and be a parent! If you didn't want to, you shouldn't have had kids.
We also live in an age of "excuse parenting." What's that? When your kid is always right...it's always someone else's fault. When a parent excuses all behavior of their child whether it's wrong or not. Again, you aren't doing your child any favors because they're going to find out one day that life doesn't work that way. Their future spouse, boss, roommate, etc will not thank you for such piss poor parenting because they'll be the ones dealing with the rude awakening your "perfect" child is going to have. I lived with several of these type of people and it completely sucked!
All this being said, there are a lot of good parents out there. There are people that are sincerely trying to be the best they can. I commend those parents. May they have 15 kids because we need more well raised people in the world...it'll help minimize the selfish stupidity that's becoming more rampant.
Oh, and I don't get to read books while working...that would make some days so much better!
p.s. I didn't intend this post to become a expose on parenting, but there you go. Some days that just how it rolls...and today is a shrieking child day....joy!
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