And the Nominees for Idiot Parent of the Month Are...

[Misty]

I feel we should have a monthly award for the most idiotic parent. Why? Because we all have so many stories about the stupid things idiot parents do, I feel we should give special recognition to that mom or dad who goes above and beyond the call. It's like being the employee of the month, if we lived in a society that rewards stupidity and general jerkiness.

Here is my nominee for October:

Sunday afternoon are always crazy busy in the yogurt shop, and yesterday was no exception. A little girl, around 6 years old, came up to the counter. I quickly realized that she was alone, which is unusual; I've waited on kids her age before, but they were always accompanied by a parent or older kid.

Anyway, I try to take her order but it's hard to hear; in addition to the store being noisy and crowded, she is barely tall enough to see over the counter, which has another foot and a half of topping bar glass blocking her kid-sized voice. Plus the glass is too wide at the top for me to lean over. Did she want a mango-coconut yogurt or a mango yogurt with coconut topping? Luckily the next customer stepped in and repeated the order for me.

I made 2 yogurts and brought them over to the POS. The kid hands me a twenty and I had her several bills and a fistful of change...that is, an adult-sized fist of change. She is having trouble hanging onto the money, so I figured I'd take the yogurts to her table for her. I asked her where she was sitting and she told me her dad was standing at the front door. I walked over to the guy and handed him the yogurt, and he said "this was an independence test."

Gee, thanks for clearing that up! I really needed to hear that instead of a "thank you," because now I can nominate you for the prestigious award I just made up! And thank you for choosing a really busy afternoon to stage your little test, although I'm unclear as to how much independence a child her age really needs. Are you planning a big vacation and are trying to decide whether you can leave her alone in a hotel room while you and wifey get drunk by the pool? If so, I'm happy to say she passed with flying colors! Have a great trip!

So my nominee is Mr. Independence Test. Can anyone top that?

[starsinthesky]

My sister worked a toy store. Parents there would routinly leave their kids in her store to go shopping at either my job or the supermarket. Then when a toy store employee had no idea what they talking about when a parent would ask them where their kids were. One time a parent asked what if someone took their kid. Her boss said that is in excellent reason why you don't leave you kid alone in a toy store. Many kids are dragged out screaming by their parents because they don't want to leave that after a while you get used to it and don't look up from what you are doing.

[seigus]

It's like being the employee of the month, if we lived in a society that rewards stupidity and general jerkiness.

I thought we did...

[NorthernZel]

Gee whiz!

I actually did a sort of "independence test" with my 6 y/o son the other day when I gave him money to buy a Slurpee.
But I also made sure to stand about 6 feet near him so I could help him out if there were any problems. Oh, and gave him the exact change to pay for the Slurpee too.
(Nonetheless, except from the fact that I had to remind him to say "thank you" when the cashier handed over the Slurpee, Lil' Zel handled it very well. And he was very proud of himself.)

[PepperElf]

it sounds like she passed the test though.

[Flying Grype]

There's a three-year-old who comes into my restaurant with her mother and insists on paying for the meal. Her mother orders, though, because the kid can't talk clearly enough. One time she hung out by the cash asking for "Oil! Oil!" (which sounded like "oyo" -- we were like "oreo? What?") and her mother realized after a minute that she wanted to make sure she got some of the vinaigrette dipping sauce that comes with the dumplings.

Anyways, IF the restaurant is relatively deserted and no other customers are at the cash, the mom will give the kid a twenty and send her up to the cash, and we'll take the payment and give her change, which she takes back and deposits on the table in front of mom. (She might understand the concept of change, but she protested loudly one time when her mother left a tip on the table. "Mine!" "No, that's for the lady." "But... mine!")

If it's crowded, mom bundles her up in her jacket, gathers up all their stuff, and pays on the way out the door.

[cashierbex]

When I was around 11, my mom and I frequented a diner. She gave me money to pay for the food. She might have also done it when I was little, too.

[malmalthekiller]

I never mind when children come through my line and want to pay for their purchases. It's pretty cute, and I understand how important it is to know how to deal with money.

Money is becoming more of an abstract concept now, with giftcards and debit cards.

Parents always say, "thanks for being so patient," but it's better for everyone to have a bit of patience with that.

That being said, I think you handled that very well, helping the little girl with her yogurt.

[smfrazier]

This reminds me of one time at a chicken restaurant. A little girl about seven years old walked in by herself and goes up to the counter and says "chicken". She looked scared to death. The lady behind the counter says "Do you want a dinner?" The girl nods but she's not too sure. "Do you want a small box?" The girl nods, but like she's still not sure. "Do you want a bucket?" She's still not sure. The lady was very pleasant and patient with her but she finally had to go outside to the car and talk to the parents.

[emax4]

I walked over to the guy and handed him the yogurt, and he said "this was an independence test."

Heh. I would have been tempted to say, "Really? To the customers and staff it looked like child abandonment. I'll go back in and call off the cops..."

Sort of related: Depending on where you grew up, in the 70's and 80's sometimes you could get away with being alone and a young kid. I remember being at the mall with my parents, and I went off to play video games, but got lost. I was about 6 at the time, but went out to the car and just waited there by myself. My logic was that they would go to the car to leave, then they'd see me there. That was one of many instances where my Mom was scouring the mall for me saying, "I'M GONNA KILL THAT KID WHEN I FIND 'EM!!", but then finds me and ends with, "Ohh my baby.. I was so worried.."

[An Haddock]

My sister worked a toy store. Parents there would routinly leave their kids in her store to go shopping at either my job or the supermarket. Then when a toy store employee had no idea what they talking about when a parent would ask them where their kids were. One time a parent asked what if someone took their kid. Her boss said that is in excellent reason why you don't leave you kid alone in a toy store. Many kids are dragged out screaming by their parents because they don't want to leave that after a while you get used to it and don't look up from what you are doing.

It still amazes me people will do this. There was a story in the news earlier this year about some scumbag who tried to grab a girl in a Walmart while her mother was only forty feet away in another aisle but she fought him off. Why would parents assume their kids would be perfectly safe around a bunch of strangers in a toy store?

I recall an instance from the Acts of Gord... a woman left her two young children (6 - 8 I believe) in his store and told them to stay there until she came back at 5. This is at 10 or 11 in the morning. Gord was on the phone and didn't have a chance to react but asked the kids where their mom worked and fortunately they knew. He called her and the conversation went something like this:

"I just wanted you to know I'll be on the phone with my distributor for about the next 20 minutes."
"So why are you telling me that?"
"If you don't come down and pick up your kids by the time I'm off the phone the next call I make is to child services (or the Canadian equivilent)"

Of course the woman came back and was being all bitchy, but people are just idiots.

[HotelMinion]

Oh god! I really hated it when my own dad made me do that. It was humiliating. Some parents just strive to embarrass their kids.

[Seshat]

Sort of related: Depending on where you grew up, in the 70's and 80's sometimes you could get away with being alone and a young kid. I remember being at the mall with my parents, and I went off to play video games, but got lost. I was about 6 at the time, but went out to the car and just waited there by myself. My logic was that they would go to the car to leave, then they'd see me there. That was one of many instances where my Mom was scouring the mall for me saying, "I'M GONNA KILL THAT KID WHEN I FIND 'EM!!", but then finds me and ends with, "Ohh my baby.. I was so worried.."

Sensible logic.

My parents would always make sure we knew where Mall Information was, and to ask shop assistants to point us to MI if we couldn't find it ourselves.
The logic being that even if we ended up at a different Information desk, at least we'd be at an easily-findable location, and shop assistants are probably safer to ask than complete strangers (and more likely to know than people who don't even work in the mall).

But I don't recall us ever being left at a store while our parents shopped at a different one.


I did a similar thing with my niece and nephew when I took them to both the museum and the children's science museum: "If we get separated, come to the information desk here. And look around for people in that uniform; they can help you find the desk." (Pointing to the security guard near the desk - who was clearly able to hear my instructions - and smiled and waved to the kids.)

[EricKei]

Parents there would routinly leave their kids in her store to go shopping at either my job or the supermarket.

This happened at GameStore from time to time -- If we couldn't stop the alleged parents from doing this, we would just unplug the demo machines that they wanted the kids to play all day >_> Granted, the demo machines were heavily bottom-weighted in order to keep them from tipping over, but concerted, intentional effort/enough weight on the tops could still bring them down.

If we did catch them leaving the kids, we'd stop them/remind them that the mall had an arcade/etc...

[Ironclad Alibi]

If we did catch them leaving the kids, we'd stop them/remind them that the mall had an arcade/etc...

"But the arcade costs money..."