THE HORROR OF LIFE IN PARK SLOPE

“Along with the first truly beautiful day of the year, my son and I had our first ruined day at the playground,” the poster named Sarah somberly recounted. “Two different people came into the actual playground with ice cream/Italian ice push carts. I was able to avoid it for a little while but eventually I left with a crying 4-year-old.”

(Thanks to Jeff Meyerson)

Comments

[O the Umanity]

Jeezely! Get a life, or move out! One of the commenters quoted got it correct ... learn to say no, and put sum discipline in the kids' lives!

(Ya got any Rocky Road?)

[Jeff Meyerson]

Exactly, O. These people are so extreme they're going to fall off the edge of the Earth one of these days.

They don't want their kids to have ice cream so the rest of the world's kids (and people trying to make a living) have to suffer? Bite me, lady!

[Steve]

I have to deal with this with my own daughter. She will keep him out of the Florida sunshine because he might want something and she can't bring herself to hurt him by saying "no".
Also, he spent all yesterday afternoon in a dark condo due to a power outage.
When I advised her to let him go out and play, she said, "There are critters out there. I'm afraid he'll get bitten."
Granddaddy goes looking for rattlesnakes. Cry me a river.
Let a five yo experience a little life that isn't recorded on a DVD.

[Horace LaBadie]

The Lost Tribe of the Anals!

[queensbee]

i am with ya, jeff. everyone, bite us.
self-centered a$$hats...

[Punkin]

Can I have his ice cream?

[WVplantman]

Imagine the horror if someone from the Trinity School selection committee were to observe these children whining for ice cream! Their lives would be over.

[Betsy]

And I thought MY mother was over-protective back in the 'fifties when she worried about me crossing the Big Street by myself. But she just told me to look both ways; she never suggested that the automobile be banned.

[Betsy]

P.S. Talking the other day to some folks dealing with college-age kids and medical residents.
Many of'em firmly believe (a) that they're "special"; (b) they they deserve a "good job!" for every effort; and (c) that any correction, criticism, or suggestion that they do something differently is a cause for total nervous collapse.

Way to go, Concerned Parents!

[poker]

So he screams for ice cream?

[Jeff Meyerson]

And we did it (cross the Big Street) without a helmet, Betsy!

We lived on a main street - two lanes of traffic each direction - and played ball in the alley between the houses. Not a day went by when we didn't have to chase the ball into traffic and yet, amazingly, we lived to tell the tale.

And we didn't get a trophy for finishing seventh in a kickball tournament either.

[Tinkerbell]

Add this to the "first world problems" list. Doesn't this type of parent usually have a nanny/servant to take the kiddies to the park?

[padraig]

"a mother of two and co-founder of the eco-friendly parentearth.com"

Thank heavens her children have a nanny, personal trainers, and life coaches so that this mom has time for the more important things.

[Omniskeptic]

The sad thing (well, one of the many sad things) about this is that it's actually bad for kids to be deprived of eating dirt, getting sunburned, etc.

Although if you've chosen to raise your child in the greater New York region, I don't know how much worse it could get than just that. Truly a town for adults who have made a deliberate choice to be there.

[Jeff Meyerson]

Believe me, Park Slope is one of the most (if not the most) child-centric neighborhoods there is. These parents need to Get.A.Life.

[Elon]

I suppose stores should stop selling cookies, just in case you are shopping with kids.

[Layzeeboy]

I kept thinking how my own mother would have reacted to the same situation when I was a lad. Then I realized that she wouldn't even have been at the park hovering over me. And if I had been fortunate enough to have found a soda bottle or two that I could cash in, I'd have enough money to buy a frickin' ice cream cone!

[Jan in Grimsby]

Sounds as tho' this is a four-year-old who needs to start going to the playground with his Grandpa. Or maybe that's not allowed either.

[nursecindy]

Unbelievable. When I was little if I whined or cried for something my parents said no. If I continued to whine or cry they showed me they meant it and I stopped. Some people shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. These mothers are prime examples of what not to do. I saw a news show the other day where employers are being told to change their way of dealing with younger workers because of things like this. One mom called her daughter's employer and told him how disappointed she was in the work evaluation he had given her daughter and asked him to change it.

[mazar larry]

So that's why there are hardly any trains! Over-protective parents have gotten them banned thinking their kids won't be smart enough to avoid being struck.

[funny man]

Good points, NC! Unbeleiveable.

Of course the government wants soft parents, because sheep are so much easier to...I'll say manipulate.

I hope the nosey mom in the last example got her daughter fired.

"Charmin" could be a new term for soft,padded and
clueless kiddies (and adults) who never had to face
parental discipline....

[sweetpea]

Apparently the round part of NO is too much for some to handle!

[Meanie the Blue]

Punkin:

No!

[Clankie]

Another senseless tragedy clouds the entire future of human life on our little planet.

[Guin]

White whine...

[jooltman]

The point these parents are trying to make is that kids shouldn't be marketed to every second of their little lives. The playground is the one place you can go in NYC to get away from relentless selling of everything under the sun. It is so nice to go someplace peaceful with your kids and not be hustled. These shaved ice (not ice cream) vendors are illegal. They have no license to sell their goods, and there is no health department oversight of their products. That stuff is nasty. Eat it at your own risk.

[Layzeeboy]

jooltman, or just tell your little snowflake, "No."

BTW, I don't know if anybody told you or not but this is a humor blog.

[WVplantman]

jooltman, just think how much safer they will be in their world travels if they build their tolerance to bacteria at an early age!

[Kat]

I'm reminded of the recent SNL Skit: White People's Problems.

[Liz in the City]

Sadly, this doesn't surprise me at all, considering it's Park Slope, Brooklyn. These parents have trouble saying no to ice cream, but get huffy when you suggest they shouldn't bring an infant into a bar at night. And then will ask you to clean up your language in said bar for said infant.

[O the Umanity]

Punkin ... I'm with MtB on this one ...

No. NO. NO! NO!!! NO!!!NO!!!NO!!NO!!NO!!!!!!

Besides, I ate all the cream before y'all got here ... neener neener ...

(That's the way kids should be raised. Teach 'em frustration, deprivation, failure ... make's 'em tuffer, so they can beat up the other kids on the playground ... )

(Merely tryin' to help, here ...)

[Coconuts]

Helicopter parents are gonna crash and burn someday.

[DrPat]

I watched two generations of such "Charmin" parents with their whining child in a restaurant yesterday - kiddie was crying for Mommy to "fix" his broken cookie, and she and Granny patiently, over and over, explained that it was just as yummy with the crack in it.

Then Big Brother leaned over the table, said "I'll fix it!" and broke it clean at the crack. He then took the smaller piece and ate it.

Mommy glared at her older son, but - wonder of wonders - the younger kid shut up, grabbed the remnant of cookie and held it in his lap where Big Brother couldn't steal any more of it!

Problem solved, and he's a wiser child for it, no thanks to the adults in his life.

[Steve]

This is the reason bubble wrap was invented.
When you see a situation like this, unroll the bubble wrap, carefully wrap up the mother until you can't hear her yelling, "My Baby, My Baby" and let the kid play.

[Loudmouth]

Downfall dumbass. Does Mom take off her thud guard helmet when she gets home or just keep it on 24/7 in case Dad (if there is one) decides she's gone too far. Little Snowflake (or Cupcake) will be nothing but a drain on society in later life. Loudmouth Cones Snowflake and Momflake. Nyah, nyah, nyah.

[Suzy Q (the original)]

Betsy, your mother was just as obviously hideously neglectful as was mine. We were special snowflakes! Who knew?

[Meanie the Blue]

Couldn't she just chew the ice cream for The Precious One?

[Omniskeptic]

Who was that celeb we were chatting about a while back, who actually did chew the tofu for her wee offspring? Although, I grant you, ice cream doesn't take much chewing. Or shouldn't.