Entitled. Spoiled. Disrespectful.

“Kids these days are …”

It has become so clichéd to complain about the behavior of younger generations that it’s tough to even say the above phrase in any tone of voice other than a terrible impersonation of an old man. But clichéd or not, the complaints keep coming.

Entitled. Spoiled. Disrespectful.

See a kid act out in public and any number of bystanders will start conversations about how their kids would never dare, or how when they were children they would never dare, all the while shaking their heads and giving the parent looks of pity, derision, or a combination of the two.

Recently, a story went viral about some guy buying over 20 pies from Burger King to spite a bratty child behind him in line. Story goes, kid was screaming for a pie, so grown man in front of him buys every last pie to make sure the kid doesn’t get what he wants. 

And cheers of joy erupted from the internet.

While the story is very likely a fiction, the sheer number of “Good for him!” responses was a bit staggering to me. A lot of the responses were along the lines of, “It’s about time the kid learned a real world lesson.” What real world scenario have you encountered in your adult life that mirrors this? When was the last time someone who was twice your height & five to ten times your weight spent more money than you earn in a week or month or year to buy twenty of the things you wanted, just to make sure you didn’t get one?

Well, but the guy had to listen to that obnoxious kid, you say? How long do you think the self-styled hero of this tale was waiting in line? Five minutes? Ten minutes? Certainly if the wait was as long as twenty or thirty minutes at Burger King, the adults in line would be throwing tantrums, not just the bratty kid – so it’s tough for me to believe it could have been that long. With that in mind, who is the person with the real instant gratification problem here? The child, who is acting his age or the adult who is acting like a child?

It seems that everybody wanted to see the kid put in his place, but if anyone dared to mention that it was the mother, not the kid, who was really going to suffer – it became clear that people wanted her to suffer as well. She raised him, after all. It’s her fault he’s such a brat, so she should have to live with his brattiness. According to the court of public opinion, this kid and his mother needed to be taught a lesson by this guy who had to suffer while waiting in line for his fast food. Why? They dared to have a bad day in public.

I guarantee you that every child, even those raised exactly the way YOU think they should be raised, will throw a tantrum at some point in their lives. Every. Single. Child. Because they are CHILDREN. They are trying to figure out how to be in human in a tiny body that is often overcome with emotions – as powerful as any you encounter in your adult life, but without any physical power to do anything about those emotions. Do they manipulate, whine, cry, and throw tantrums to try and get what they want? Yes. In the beginning of their lives, those are the only tools they have at their disposal. And yes, as they get older, they should learn to behave better – we all should. But please don’t pretend that children are the only ones who throw temper tantrums, not even the only ones in public.

I’m calling bullshit because I’ve worked in customer service. I’ve witnessed fully grown adults screaming at sales clerks in retail stores over pennies. I’ve watched the videos of store clerks literally trampled to death by a bunch of adults on Black Friday.

I don’t think the massive support for this man-child revenge fiction is because people honestly think such behavior will result in the actual child becoming a better human as a result of this “lesson.” It seems to me, that it provided a release valve for a whole section of people who simply hate the fact that they have to share the world with children & parents. If you look at the comments sections of any of the articles referencing this story, you will find gems like, “I shouldn’t have to suffer because YOU didn’t use birth control.” And other, far more colorful comments, that exude an intolerance of all things children.

You don’t want kids. I think that’s great. But that doesn’t mean you get to live in a childfree world. You have to share public spaces with other members of the public, even if they are younger than you & having a bad day.

Adults these days are so…

Entitled. Spoiled. Disrespectful.