Smells Like Change

Not Asking Much

“Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices.”

To [Dan McCauley], it was a simple reminder to parents to keep an eye on their children and set some limits. But to some parents... the sign may as well have read, “If you have kids, you’re not welcome.” It’s not about the kids,” said McCauley, the 44-year-old owner of A Taste of Heaven cafe. “It’s about the parents who are with them. Are they supervising and guiding them?"

Personally, after having worked retail for a little bit I've seen that parents try their best in many cases to take advantage of having a child. Whether that be to come to the front of a line, herd people, having the kids run and get extra items, or beg that an item be taken back for cash instead of exchange. I've seen all of those examples in action. So seeing "the rights of one don't cancel out the rights of another" scores in my mind.

Too often, though, our cultural emphasis on freedom and individual rights gets taken to the extreme, becoming “a kind of selfish entitlement that undermines our ability to function as a civil community,” said George Scarlett, a professor of child development at Tufts University in Boston. “The rights of any one individual — whether he or she be a parent, child or stranger — do not negate the rights of others.”

I don't have anything against parents. I recognize that I don't have the capability to be a parent 24/7 no vacations or weekends, I have the same expectation of my peers. Its insulting to see a woman pregnant and with four other kids around her tearing down candy aisles, opening food packages, screaming in the floor while the 'mother' does nothing. Expects no respect of herself or her children, or asks them to behave.

My husband and I have some good friends we visit now and then. A family with six and two year girls. Both are beautiful and smart, and undeniably mischievious. They both test their limits, but in the end they respect their parents. The few times we have all gone out together I have never seen the girls act up. I think that is all McCauley is asking for, and what is wrong with that?

In other topics, I love how here in Florida we can breathe easily while we eat. No smoking where food is served! I wish it had been like that in Tennessee, it was absolutely awful having to walk through smoking areas of restaurants. Now apparently Westin hotels are stepping up to that bat and the new year will ring in their efforts to have really clean hotel rooms. Westin to fine $200 to smokers in rooms

Westin Hotels & Resorts is banning smoking indoors and poolside at all 77 of its properties in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

Except for designated smoking areas, any smell, butts, or ciggarette ash will result in a $200 fine to help cover deep cleaning and air purifying costs. What a sweet smell!