Parental Modeling-Nature vs. Nurture Part 2
July 14th 2010 19:02
At family camp last weekend I saw a lot of examples of kids acting like their parents. It's the Nature vs. Nurture argument again. I see this at school but only occasionally see the kids and parents together. It was another reminder of how much kids pay attention and emulate their parents, even if they don't realize it.
And it's not always in a good way. We were at camp, which meant listening to directions from staff and at one point, sitting around a campfire while the counselors talked, tried to get people to sing, and gave instructions to get s'more making to run smoothly. These are some of the observations I made.
To the woman sitting behind us at the campfire: I do not want to hear the music you're playing on your cell phone. Turn it off. The staff are trying to get people involved in activities. Do you have any clue how disrespectful it is to sit there and listen to music while they're talking? And forcing everyone around you to listen to it too because you can't be bothered to put on headphones is just rude. That explains why your kids are running around, talking over the counselors, and not listening. That and the fact that you're not doing anything about it.
To the guy I played paintball with, who volunteered to do one of the campfire games with your son while no one else was paying attention: nice work.
To the other parents that were just letting your kids run all over the place while you just talked to each other and paid no attention to the staff: Rude. Freakin' rude. We teach respectful listening at the school I work at. Apparently you missed the lesson when you were in school. The short and sweet version is shut up and look at who's talking (though we obviously phrase it differently at school!). You supposedly wanted to come to this camp. Doing so means you agree to follow the rules of the camp and listen to the people working there. If you're not ready to do that, stay home. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.
Final food for thought: there were 33 moms signed up for the camp, and only 15 dads. Apparently this is a pretty good ratio for them...I find it kind of sad. Step it up, dads.
And it's not always in a good way. We were at camp, which meant listening to directions from staff and at one point, sitting around a campfire while the counselors talked, tried to get people to sing, and gave instructions to get s'more making to run smoothly. These are some of the observations I made.
To the woman sitting behind us at the campfire: I do not want to hear the music you're playing on your cell phone. Turn it off. The staff are trying to get people involved in activities. Do you have any clue how disrespectful it is to sit there and listen to music while they're talking? And forcing everyone around you to listen to it too because you can't be bothered to put on headphones is just rude. That explains why your kids are running around, talking over the counselors, and not listening. That and the fact that you're not doing anything about it.
To the guy I played paintball with, who volunteered to do one of the campfire games with your son while no one else was paying attention: nice work.
To the other parents that were just letting your kids run all over the place while you just talked to each other and paid no attention to the staff: Rude. Freakin' rude. We teach respectful listening at the school I work at. Apparently you missed the lesson when you were in school. The short and sweet version is shut up and look at who's talking (though we obviously phrase it differently at school!). You supposedly wanted to come to this camp. Doing so means you agree to follow the rules of the camp and listen to the people working there. If you're not ready to do that, stay home. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.
Final food for thought: there were 33 moms signed up for the camp, and only 15 dads. Apparently this is a pretty good ratio for them...I find it kind of sad. Step it up, dads.
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