raising our kids right...

An incident occurred while I was in the McDonald's lineup (yes, I'm guilty!) a few minutes ago and it struck me as completely ignorant.  A guy (I definitely cannot call him a gentleman) in his early 20's made a stink about a woman in her 90's because he thought she was trying to budge in line, in front of him.  I just stood there in awe and wondered why he couldn't have just let her in front of him.  She was frail looking but able to walk on her own.  Do people have no shame?

I realize now that I should have spoken up and said something.  I've seen elderly people sometimes use their age as an advantage from time to time and that sometimes ticks me off but if they're nice about it, I will give them a pass.  Even if they're not nice, I probably would too.  But this guy had some nerve to say, 'Well, I was next but she budged in front of me', and then proceed to order his food instead of just letting the poor woman go in front of him.  His chivalry completely died?

The reason this affected me so much is that I think about Lil J when he's that old.  Would he do the same thing?  Would he have let the old woman go ahead of him?  I would hope the answer would be the latter.  If not, I would feel I had failed him as a mother.  My husband and I want to raise him the 'old school' way so that he understands to respect his elders, opens doors for girls and women (and hopefully stands up when a woman enters the door - but that's probably pushing it), offers a seat for women and his elders, etc., etc.  I don't want him to fall into the cracks of his generation.  I see a lot of parents demonstrating a more relaxed approach with their kids and half the time they have no control over their kids.  Not to say my husband and I are super strict (we have been told we are super relaxed!) but we do have control over our kids so far.  Lil J is always testing us but as long as you 'nip it in the butt' right away, kids will learn right from wrong.

Of course, these are just my opinions and views on how we're trying to raise Lil J and Miss S and I'm not trying to say that everyone should raise their kids that way.  I just hope my kids don't turn out like that 20-something guy in the McDonald's line....