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Originally Posted by CDSmith
My dad and I have dinner out together every Sunday. He is notorious for not liking the typical "parents who bring bratty kids to restaraunt and let them wail away and run amuck"
Anyway....there we are sitting in this restaurant one Sunday evening, and this single mother with 3 small children (all boys) comes in and gets seated at the table right beside us. I thought to myself (hoo boy, here it comes.... trouble)
I was wrong.
This woman's kids were great, very well-behaved, not too loud or whiney or bratty at all. I even noticed the one older one helping his younger sibling with something, I forget what but it was some small thing.
When my dad and I got up to leave later, I made it a point to pay this woman a compliment about her well-behaved kids. She replied with the old "AH.. heh heh, they aren't always like this, but thanks" kind of thing, but I could see my comment made her swell with pride just the same.
I just believe it's not only good but important to let people know when they're doing a good job, be it at their workplace or be it parenting. Her three boys (at least the older two) heard me clearly as well. Hopefully kids like that will one day remember to also step up and tell their mom (or dad) what a great job they did.
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This is pretty much how my kids are, and they know that if they do any different while in public, NEXT time they will get left at home with the nanny and miss out on fun/neat stuff to do. Or they'll earn extra chores (even my 2 year old does chores suitable to her age group, it's all about starting early), they know they'll be punished one way or another. They learn after they sit at home alone with the nanny that next time they ought to mind their p's and q's.