Family Values

Is it  just me or has the quality of both child and parent in this world taken a tremendous nosedive? Here's a scenario that I somehow became an unwilling silent cast member in last summer. The setting takes place at The Christmas Tree Shoppes where a child and mother are literally telling each other off in public. Child : (About 10 years old, wearing lipstick might I add) "Why don't you shut up! Look at your stupid hair!". Mom: "I'll kill you if you don't shut your #$%*!#$ mouth!". Child: "Yeah, keep wearing that fake hair! I told you I'm done. I wanna go home already!". Mom: "You know you're a little (expletive)! Child: "Yeah, a ha. Loser". Mom:(looking at me for some reason as I finger through picture frames) " I'm gonna (expletive) kill this little (expletive). Me: (Eyebrows pretty much raised so high that they're under my hairline, thinking to myself) " Wow. I need to move. Immediately!". Back when I was a child, this scenario wouldn't have happened in a million years. I would have never spoken to my mother or father in such a way. Most of my friends had the same upbringing. We had a fear of our parents. It wasn't a bad fear though, it was more of a respect type of fear. Once the law had been laid down, that was it. If you did something wrong you were punished or worse grounded or worse than that...grounded for life! That might have included no phone calls, no play dates, no television or maybe missing a friend's birthday party. One thing was for sure though, there was no way out once you weaseled your way into being punished. There were rules that I had to follow on a daily or weekly basis.  I had to go to church every Sunday and there was no getting out of it. The one time that I did put lipstick on, my mother made me wipe it off and told me that if I wore it, that I'd be the talk of the town. Well I didn't want that! My homework had to be done before any television shows went on and I wasn't allowed to watch television for that long either. We cared about school and strove to do well, even if we didn't. If we got a note home, we were in trouble, not the teacher. We had to ask if we could play video games and they were only allowed on the weekends. We were involved in sports, had dinner as a family every night and went outside to play with our friends. God forbid I even said the words hell or damn in my house. This was a time when your parents watched how they spoke and they made it a point not to use inappropriate language around you. If they did, then odds were that you would repeat those words outside the house and no one in the neighborhood would want you hanging out with their children or worse maybe you'd get a bar of soap in the mouth, "A Christmas Story Style". My point is, that there were consequences. I don't see any consequences today. I see parents giving in to their children and I see children running the show. I see parents making excuses for the bad behavior of their children and their children standing right next to them with a smirk on their faces. This baffles me. If these people were raised by a generation of parents that enforced rules, then why are they not enforcing those same rules and demand for respect on their own children? Sadly, The Christmas Tree Shoppe situation is not the first of this nature that I've seen play out before my eyes. I think my eyes let that particular mother know the embarrassment that she should feel for her behavior as well as for her child's, but honestly, I really don't think she was embarrassed at all. This classless family behavior is becoming the norm and it's simply scary to watch. I think a lot of it has to do with media. What is acceptable on television and on the radio has changed so drastically. I almost feel like I'm ancient right now saying these words but the truth is I'm not that ancient at all! How much further can the envelope be pushed? The kids of today are really exposed to so much that were taboo when I was their age. There was a beauty in that though, because you had time to figure out the unknown. Today, there are no secrets. Children know about everything. That's where parents should be stepping in but for some reason they're not. Have they forgotten that they can actually sensor what is being watched on television in their homes as well as the very words that they choose to use in front of their children? I'm sorry, but Family Guy is not a cartoon for children. It's an adult cartoon that by all means is hilarious.....for an adult. It would be so nice to see the innocence of a child last longer than it does now. I guess the only thing that you can do is keep the memory of the dysfunctional family circus that you might have encountered at a public place and remember that you are a role model as a parent. It is now your job to show a developing mind what is acceptable and what is expected and that there will be consequences! I think a parent should think about the consequences he/she faced as a child and make sure the consequences that are dished out actually matter to your child, no matter how heartbreaking it may be to take something away. If the consequences don't matter, then what lesson was actually learned?