You Can't Bury Strangers in Corn Pits

Yesterday, I wrote about the fun times had by my family at the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze.

Overall, we had a great time.
But there were moments that I wanted to throw something at people.
(I'd have thrown corn but that would have made me just as bad as others at the festival.)
And there were moments that made me realize why I only like my own kids and hate other peoples kids. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Upon entering the grounds, we had to wait in line to get in.
Not a problem.. I can wait. And it gave the kids a chance to see just how tall the corn stalks were compared to them. (They had only ever really seen stalks on the interstate in Illinois and Iowa.)

There was a sign that read (CLEARLY):
Credit card payments in the left line
Cash payments in the right line

So, we lined up left since we never seem to have cash on hand.
And of course, there were people who got up to the front and totally screwed it up.
Some of them even bitched out loud that there should have been a sign.
?!?!?!?!?!?

Another sign that was CLEARLY visible was the one saying:
DO NOT TOUCH THE CORN

Now, I imagine that if you lightly touched the stalk, they probably wouldn't care. It's likely that the sign was there to keep people from flat out destroying the corn stalks.
Judging from the amount of corn kernels on the ground, people simply cannot read.

An ADULT in front of us SHOWED his kid how to open up the husk and get the kernels out.
That's lovely. Teach them early how to NOT follow rules.
And he wasn't the only one.

But the one that got me the most?
The little boy behind us that not only kept touching the stalk while his dad watched, but actually RIPPED the corn cob off the stalk and proceeded to peel that thing like a banana.
And like I said, his dad watched the entire time.
Only when the kid chucked the corn behind him into the corn field did his dad say a word. And even then, he just told him that he could have hit someone if they were hanging out in the corn field.
Yeah, that's awesome. You're not okay with the kid hurting anyone but it's just fine if he breaks every other rule and destroys property.
Awesome. Maybe that kid will end up at a party with 300 other kids one day destroying an ex-NFL players home.

The next thing that chapped my arse was the spot where everyone was peeling the sticky tab off of their entrance bracelets. The kids weren't putting them on their own wrists.
And there was a huge trash can right there for you to toss the trash.
But the adults couldn't seem to find the giant, blue trash can and dispose of their trash.
Why do that when the ground looks so wonderful covered with them?


Once we finally got into the festival, that's when I kept thanking my lucky stars that my children behave in public.
And no, I'm not talking about tantrums. I have dealt with that before and I know first hand that when a child is that emotional and already raging... they will not listen to reason.
I don't actually recall hearing too many of those, except from the tiny babies that were hungry or cold.

I'm talking about the kids that were running around like crazy, knocking things over and almost knocking people over. The kids that were being rude and inconsiderate while their parents stood there and said nothing.

While waiting at the face painting tent for our turn, there was a family ahead of us.
They had 3 kids, all girls. The youngest looked to be about 3, the middle kid was around 8 or 9, and the oldest was probably about 13.
When the youngest was done and painted up, she ran away for a minute or two. Her father (?) barely noticed. Luckily, she came back to them.
But then she grabbed the mirror hanging on the tent and almost ripped it down. It was the oldest sister that finally got her to let go and told her not to do it.

Once the all 3 girls were done, the oldest and middle were both looking in the mirror. Apparently, the middle one, we will call her Diva, didn't like sharing and SHOVED her sister away... right towards my youngest child. Luckily, the kid was able to right herself a split second before she knocked my kid on her ass.

I had to endure those kids, and their crappy behavior, for a total of about 10 minutes. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life.

Then there were the kids in the corn pit.
It was a giant pit of kernels held in place by a barrier of hay bales.
My kids took off their shoes and got in and started to play.
I stayed on the outside of the pit to take pics.

While standing there, a few kids came running along the top of the bales, knocking into people left and right. And I can honestly say, I don't know where their parents were at the time.
One of them actually clipped me in the shoulder.
Did she say sorry? Of course not. Apparently, she was never taught to do such a crazy thing.


Honestly, my anger is geared more towards the parents than the kids.
Children will actually behave if they are taught the difference between right and wrong.
Deep down, when I see rude little snots, I know that it's probably not their fault.
(Okay, yeah.... some kids are just wild and no one can get them to behave.)

It's the parents that stand by and watch their children being snots that bother me.
Why don't they say something?
Why don't they pull Junior aside and let him know that if the behavior continues, they will be going home where he can sit in time out?

Now, I've said before that my kids aren't perfect.
But I can honestly say that they have never done the things mentioned above.
And only once can I remember one of them plowing into someone.

One time at Target, Button was in the little kids section with us while we were trying a coat on Peanut. Button took off at a sprint through the racks and almost knocked a woman down.
She's never done it again.
Not after the look from me, the talk from my husband and me, and the fact that we made it clear that we would not tolerate rudeness.

People usually aren't born mean. They aren't born racist, rude, inconsiderate, or spoiled.
It's what they learn (or don't learn) from their parents that make them act terribly throughout their childhoods and into adulthood.

I thank my lucky stars everyday that my mother never permitted that sort of behavior and taught me to be considerate and helpful.
And I'll continue to teach my kids to be the same way.



It always comes back on the parents.
Kids don't get the side-eye... the parents do.