PARENTING

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

I did the WIC thing once, when I was prego with my son.

Peanut butter. Peanut butter. Peanut butter. So much peanut butter.

WIC is one of the few things America does that makes me proud.

All things considered, that's a very sad statement.

Yeah, WIC wears a white hat.
It's about not feeding your kids Cheetos for breakfast and getting them accustomed to actual FOOD.
This makes me expect it to go away soon. Can't have THAT in America^(TM).

Assholes have been trying desperately to kill WIC since the day it was introduced.  It's still there.

And while it's still there, you can assume that the USA isn't ALL dickhead and assmunch.

What's been keeping WIC dickhead and assmunch proof, though, and HOW THE FUCK DO WE DEPLOY THIS IN DEFENSE OF THE LAST FEW THINGS BETWEEN US AND ALEC?

What's been keeping it safe is that no matter how much advertising you do, most people don't want babies to be malnourished.

Also, ALEC hasn't really got a vested interest in getting rid of it, for reasons that should be fairly obvious.

Yeah, a well-nourished slave class.
Until they're five, anyway.

[navkat]

A few thoughts:

Often, "We don't have any food at my house" is kid code for "The food at my house isn't as tasty and exotic as the food at your house, so I'm gonna eat all your food so I can say I'm not hungry when I go home and my mom tries to give me meatloaf and peas".

That's so fucked. I came from a home where my mom didn't even start cooking until 9 and then she'd serve my dad, serve herself and they'd eat in their beds, watching TV with the door closed. My sister and I were "welcome to make a plate" but had to wash EVERYONE's dishes afterwards. We often ate standing up in the kitchen (if at all) after 10PM  because there was no place to sit at the table and were up until 11 or midnight, doing dishes while good ol' Mom and Dad were in their room, reading and lounging and drinking GALLONS of diet soda that we had to go fetch them. Growing up with an UN-nurturing mom was probably so much worse than no mom because my idea of what a child deserves and should expect was "ZERO. You deserve and should expect nothing. Not even meals or a clean place to eat or do your homework."

If I ever found myself at a friend's house after school, I was too embarrassed to mention "I probably won't eat until 10." I was too ashamed to ask for anything and probably just felt lucky to be around people who hadn't kicked me out for being weird yet. My standard reply to everything was "No, thank you. I'm okay."

Kinda pisses me off that there are kids who abuse people's hospitality simply because they don't like what mom makes. That hits me in the gut.

Also, often kids who respect the boundaries in their own home know that different boundaries apply in different places, and act like it's a free-for-all as soon as they're in a new environment. That means that you have to set boundaries for them in YOUR home.

...

Lastly, the correct answer to "Well, kids will be kids" is, "If that's how you're raising him, he is no longer welcome at my house, I'm sorry."

Vroom-vroooooom!

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

Sounds like the main issue with your kids friends is lack of parental attention.

And it's also true that food at someone's elses house always looks tastier than the crap your mom serves you. 

But that doesn't explain the greasy unwashed look you describe, and lack of parental attention does.

My best guess based on the info in this thread combined with personal experience as a parent is that it is a combination of those and other unnamed factors.

OR

The kid is just being a shit.  I was a shit.  It's part of being a kid in America...Or was.  My kids aren't shits.  I can't understand why.

That's yes! I can honestly say that the only thing that I've done right is when my kids *do* fuck up, I get it. Beyond that I can only assume that not being massive little shit-asses is their form of rebellion, cause Eris knows, they didn't learn that shit from their parents.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Sounds like the main issue with your kids friends is lack of parental attention.

And it's also true that food at someone's elses house always looks tastier than the crap your mom serves you. 

But that doesn't explain the greasy unwashed look you describe, and lack of parental attention does.

My best guess based on the info in this thread combined with personal experience as a parent is that it is a combination of those and other unnamed factors.

OR

The kid is just being a shit.  I was a shit.  It's part of being a kid in America...Or was.  My kids aren't shits.  I can't understand why.

That's yes! I can honestly say that the only thing that I've done right is when my kids *do* fuck up, I get it. Beyond that I can only assume that not being massive little shit-asses is their form of rebellion, cause Eris knows, they didn't learn that shit from their parents.

Ahahahahahahahaaaa!

Yeah, I kind of love it when kids take a look at their parents and go, "Yeah, I'm not doing that" and proceed to be orderly, sensible, respectful human beings. AS A FORM OF REBELLION. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

A few thoughts:

Often, "We don't have any food at my house" is kid code for "The food at my house isn't as tasty and exotic as the food at your house, so I'm gonna eat all your food so I can say I'm not hungry when I go home and my mom tries to give me meatloaf and peas".

That's so fucked. I came from a home where my mom didn't even start cooking until 9 and then she'd serve my dad, serve herself and they'd eat in their beds, watching TV with the door closed. My sister and I were "welcome to make a plate" but had to wash EVERYONE's dishes afterwards. We often ate standing up in the kitchen (if at all) after 10PM  because there was no place to sit at the table and were up until 11 or midnight, doing dishes while good ol' Mom and Dad were in their room, reading and lounging and drinking GALLONS of diet soda that we had to go fetch them. Growing up with an UN-nurturing mom was probably so much worse than no mom because my idea of what a child deserves and should expect was "ZERO. You deserve and should expect nothing. Not even meals or a clean place to eat or do your homework."

If I ever found myself at a friend's house after school, I was too embarrassed to mention "I probably won't eat until 10." I was too ashamed to ask for anything and probably just felt lucky to be around people who hadn't kicked me out for being weird yet. My standard reply to everything was "No, thank you. I'm okay."

Kinda pisses me off that there are kids who abuse people's hospitality simply because they don't like what mom makes. That hits me in the gut.

Thing is, they're just being kids who, by virtue of having had their needs met, assume that they deserve to have their needs met, or even to level up if that's an option. Yeah, it's entitlement, but it's a form of entitlement that's really just natural human opportunism. It's what Eve's story is all about. I can't bring myself to disapprove of it, because children SHOULD be opportunistic, and adults should set limits. Yes, a kid will eat ALL the ice cream unless you tell him not to. Why wouldn't he?

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Update! Mrs. Vex just caught one of these squirmy little brats telling my child to ask for permission before they got into some stuff. What's wrong with these kids? It's like they don't even know the proper meaning of chaos.

Moral of story: some kids are better than others.