For several years, our farm was a Missouri Agri-tourism site. This meant it was
recognized and promoted as offering educational and entertaining farm tours. In
other words, families, adult groups, and groups of children—LOTS of children visited
the lambing barns and greenhouse on the farm to learn where our food comes from
and other important things about the word of agriculture.
For the most part, children made up the bulk of our
visitors; teachers wanting to give their students the farm
experience. I thoroughly enjoyed making sure everyone
had a good time while learning something new…a good and safe time.
Our farm was a working farm, which means there was
livestock, tools and equipment—things that could have hurt someone if not used
properly. That’s why immediately after I welcomed a group of children to the
farm, we talked about safety rules and how obeying these rules would make their
visit more fun for everyone. And you know what? The kids were good with that.
Even the most mischievous children and busiest preschoolers willingly obeyed
the rules. As for some of the parents who came along as ‘chaperones’…not so much. In fact, often times they could be a real problem.
The parents who came along usually came with cameras (or
phones, as time went on) so they could capture every moment of the event—which was
fine. I had no problem with them taking pictures. What I did have a problem with however, was the fact that many of the
parents told their children to break the rules. Yep, in nearly every group of visitors there was a parent or two that told their child to climb on a gate, pick up a lamb,
climb up on the bales of straw or hay, or get up on the tractor so they could
snap a few pictures.
Whenever I saw a child getting ready to do what I'd asked them not to, I
was quick to remind them by saying, “You promised not to break the rules, so
please keep your promise.”
They wanted to. I could see it on their faces. And usually this reminder was all it took to rein parents back in. There were times, though, that the reminders went unheeded and parents would say, “Oh it’s okay, go ahead.” Or “I just want a quick picture he/she won’t hurt anything” to which I replied that it wasn’t okay and they would need to follow the rules. The end.
They wanted to. I could see it on their faces. And usually this reminder was all it took to rein parents back in. There were times, though, that the reminders went unheeded and parents would say, “Oh it’s okay, go ahead.” Or “I just want a quick picture he/she won’t hurt anything” to which I replied that it wasn’t okay and they would need to follow the rules. The end.
I’ve been thinking a lot about those parents lately—the ones
who teach their children to disrespect authority and who instill a sense of
entitlement and a belief that they are exempt from the rules. I've been thinking about how many news stories wouldn’t be news stories if parents
didn’t encourage their kids to break the rules. How many outbreaks of violence
and shootings wouldn’t take place if parents didn’t teach their children to
ignore the voice of authority?
You might think it’s ‘just a picture’, that it's a dumb rule, that it's no big deal, or that the teacher doesn’t know what he/she is talking about. But when you teach, encourage and condone your children’s attitude of disrespect and disregard for rules and guidelines, you are also doing something else. You are putting yourself and your kids just one ‘episode’ closer to being a news story.
You might think it’s ‘just a picture’, that it's a dumb rule, that it's no big deal, or that the teacher doesn’t know what he/she is talking about. But when you teach, encourage and condone your children’s attitude of disrespect and disregard for rules and guidelines, you are also doing something else. You are putting yourself and your kids just one ‘episode’ closer to being a news story.
Think about it…
Love,
Momma D
Momma D
Copyright 2016 Darla Noble. No part of this can be used or copied without permission from the author.
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