Edwards Kids Need a Serious Manners Makeover

There's just no easy way to write this - there are alot of undisciplined and disrespectful kids on this base.  To put it bluntly, a large percentage of your kids are shits, pure and simple.  Don't believe me? Speak to any member of Security Forces how they feel about your precious angels when they are released from school and most will begin a diatribe about exactly what they think of your kids.  I'm not so much referring to those with the 5 years and under set - it's kinda hard for an infant to be in the classification of "annoying shits" but when it comes to the kids at the middle and high school ranges, Damn!  Need proof? Go stand around the shoppette after school and just observe as they grab a snack before heading to the teen center - grab a coke and sit at a table and watch what goes on. In roughly 10 minutes you'll have a strong desire to strangle 3/4 of them. They are foul mouthed, disrespectful to adults and obnoxious to a great fault. Yes - you're kids are indeed shits.

And then as I read comments on facebook or have conversations with other parents on base, I hear even more horror stories. Granted, there's nothing to do on this base - I'm an adult and I'm bored out of my ever loving mind here - but throwing rocks at peoples cars has never crossed my mind as a suitable activity to pass the time.  Parents on base are describing problems at the base parks and older children and preteens talking about using illegal drugs. Security Forces will tell you that they have little to no authority over the high school while they are on campus and that the kids not only know this but flaunt it by smoking marijuana on school property as the SF cars drive past.

A survey by U.S. News & World Report revealed that nine out of ten Americans feel that the breakdown of civility (this is how we treat each other) is a problem, and nearly half rate the problem as extremely serious. Ninety percent of Americans polled said manners and good social graces have significantly eroded over the past ten years and that the situation is only getting worse. What's more, 93 percent of adults feel that the major cause of all rudeness is that parents have failed to teach respect to their kids.  What this means is that kids today are little shits and we have allowed them to be this way. We find it cute when 3 year old Johnny says "fuck you" after hearing mom or dad say it in the household - we laugh and giggle and say "little Johnny, say it again for Daddy" and we teach our kids its okay to say it. Then when Johnny is a teenager and a teacher upsets him and he uses the same words, suddenly its not so cute but by then its too late..

We coddle these children and make so many excuses for their bad behavior til we're blue in the face: They have autism, ADHD, their daddy is deployed, we're on a military base and so they are safe playing outside unsupervised.  But honestly, there's never an excuse for the behavior that is displayed in our youth. I don't care if dad is on his 4th deployment in 6 years - there are plenty of children who have dealt with the same and their parents tore their asses up the first time they displayed this behavior and they turned out to be perfectly well behaved children. They weren't allowed to wander the streets long after dark when the only fun to be had is usually destructive.  You've raised a generation of kids who are given anything they want when they want it, allowed to do anything they want because you feel guilty saying no or disciplining them for whatever reason. Well, here's a news bulletin - you're not doing your kids any favors. Maybe you expect the school system to teach your kids the lessons you have failed to teach but their job is to teach them math, science and history - not manners and good behavior.

Sometimes I'm not at all surprised at the kid when I see the parent though. After all, bad behavior usually begins at the home. Why are kids out long past curfew, vandalizing other peoples property? Because mom and dad have allowed them to be out in the first place. My favorite is hearing women complaining about teenage drivers speeding in housing areas yet I see that same behavior displayed by adults on base every day as they fly through the commissary parking lot to get to Starbucks. You show up at the Air Force Ball looking like you just got off work from The Hustler Club and you allow your teenage daughter to borrow your clothes.

When did this become acceptable attire for our teens and tweens?

 You drive the wrong way into the elementary school when picking up your kids because the 10 extra seconds to go in the correct way is an inconvenience.  I was shocked the other day when driving by the school - a mom actually picked her kid up in the middle of the road. She stopped her car (with several cars behind her), motioning for the kid to run across the two lanes of traffic (and darting in front of an oncoming truck) so that he could get in the passenger side. And we wonder why these very kids grow up feeling they are entitled to do the same type of things. Your kids watch what you do and the lesson you are teaching them is "Its okay for us to do it because we're better than everyone else".  Your kids are shits, well, because you are a shit.

This just in - You are not special. I don't care if you're an officers wife or Michelle Obama herself . Maybe you wipe your butt with only the finest toilet paper, drink only bottled water imported from a remote lake where Jesus himself drank, paid 20K for boobs and have a whole collection of Coach purses. It doesn't matter.  The Pope may have hand blessed your kids but they aren't special either. 

To me, the special kids are the one who say "please" and "thank you", who say "yes ma'am" and "no sir" and who stand silently while the National Anthem plays.  When I see those types of kids, I want to just walk up and say "Good job" to those parents.

But when I see your kids - I just wanna slap the shit out of both of ya.

Until Next Time....