Well here’s a topic that I’m sure will stir plenty of debate!
A well-known, New York Entertainer, David Ippolito, has been fired from his longtime gig at Hudson River Park after trying to quiet a couple of youngsters at one of his recent concerts. In one of the incidents, a group of kids were reportedly running and jumping around near the cables not far from where Ippolito was performing. In the other incident, a father complained when Ippolito asked him to quiet his child who was talking while he was performing. That father filed a complaint against the singer that resulted in management asking him to strum his guitar elsewhere. But was Ippolito out of line?
We’ve tackled this issue here before at Good Enough Mother so you know where I stand on this topic. One of my big pet peeves is flying – I cannot stand sitting in front of a child whose parents allow them to kick the back of my seat the entire time we’re in the air. The reason I’m so sensitive to that situation is because I was always aware when my kids did it. But if you happen to be sitting in front of that inconsiderate parent, what do you do? Is there a nice way to tell them that their kid is being a pain in the butt? Or do you just sit quietly and pray they, or you, go to sleep? And what about when you’re at a restaurant, or the cinema, and children around you are acting up… what do you do?
I feel VERY strongly about the fact that your children should not be a nuisance to other people. But that leaves a lot of gray territory. Were those tumbling kids at the outdoor concert being a nuisance? Probably. Should Ippolito have asked the father to quiet his kid? Hmmm, not so sure. Should the dad have shushed the kid himself? YES. And was this really worth filing a complaint that ended with someone losing a job? I say no.
So let’s debate this. What do you do when someone else’s kids are behaving badly and it’s impacting you? Do you say something to the kids? The parents? Are you nice about it or relatively stern? Has anything like this ever happened to you and how did you handle it? Okay, GO!
