Is it necessary for parents to...?Lead their children in a game of, "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" on a morning peak hour bus - especially when there are two sets of parents with five kids between them, and the kids are all seated when they are supposed to be standing.
Play soccer with their kids. I don't mean in a park or a garden, I refer to the father standing on one side of a busy main road, while his ten year-old stands on the other. Somehow it never seems to be dad who dashes into the road to recover the ball.
Act as the "starter" for a race between two children - in the aisle of a supermarket.
Let their little darlings ride bicycles in a supermarket - and we are talking full size bikes!
Show their children how to use an ATM in a busy street - telling the kids their PIN out loud. Of course the child gets it wrong the first time, so the mother repeats it slowly, making sure both their offspring and anyone passing by can clearly hear.
Approach me, (who they had never seen before in their life) outside a supermarket and ask if I could keep an eye on their little boy while they, "just pop in here for a few moments". When this happened to me, I asked if she would let me look after her leather jacket - the Mother of The Year replied, "of course not"!
Push strollers ahead of them - thereby having no control over the stroller or where it may end up. The last time I saw this happen, the stroller mounted the nature strip and was heading towards the main road before I managed to stop it. Note: a nature strip is the grassed area shown in the photograph. It was easier for me to take a photo of my street, than try to describe it!
Order home a young teenage girl in school uniform, while angrily yelling out, "at the double" and "move it Miss," all along the street - in full view and hearing of mid-morning shoppers. Onlookers were not too impressed by this public display of over-the-top "discipline," causing one well dressed business woman to remark, "what a b**h". Hard to disagree with her on that point.
This is Sydney, not "Boot-Camp County".
