Try "teaching a child to stay out of the way," especially a curious and active child, 24/7 for a week and then get back to us about how easy it should be in order to slightly lessen your own personal inconvenience.

Approach child in aisle of grocery store. Decision too hard, step left or step right, me to important to decide, me not move child move. Parent bad. Oh gee, me move, no time wait - Survivor on at 8.

so parents are trying to be cool when they have a three or four year old in a public space?

Are you from the 50's when women only existed to stay home with kids so dad's didn't have to be embarrassed, or worse, stay home with the black care-giver while mom and dad are out drinking gin? For your Information, you're fucking insane

I seriously think people who complain about having to share public space with children are fucking sick in the head. Maybe you were abused or neglected as a child so you just literally can't handle it when you see a child being allowed to have an actual childhood? You seethe with hatred at these parents who "think they're cool" for bringing their children out into public and letting them be children, but you inevitably end up sounding like you think you are infinitely cooler than everybody else for complaining as if children simply shouldn't exist or should just be beaten into submission every time they have an outburst or fail to see someone trying to pass them in the store or on the street. You act like you're so superior but you're the one who literally freaks out if you have to wait 2 seconds to walk around the child. Are you really that easily defeated? Next time try smiling at the child and saying politely "excuse me I need to pass by". That's how children learn good manners in public. Sorry to see that apparently you never did.

FYI, not yet. I just don't understand the position that children can't exist in public places. It's such a silly thing to get annoyed with, when as an adult you can literally control the situation and move around them. I understand getting annoyed with a cryer in a movie or something, but honestly, most people freak out about a couple of seconds it took to be patient and step around a kid or wait for the parent to snatch them up and move them. It's insane it really is - we all fake like we're patient good ethical people, but the moment it's a child we grow a superiority complex and all social conventions and politeness go out the window. I honestly believe this example is evidence that people are only "good" out of self-preservation.

Well, I'm not a parent but all I really have to say on the matter is "No. Dear God, no."

What you have here is a simple and effective way to make you feel more important than you actually are and teach kids how to be dependent. If anything, teach kids the meaning of personal accountability and how to apologize for their actions, it'll certainly help them when they grow up but your solution, teaching them to stay out of the way while the grown ups are talking will just make them bystanders and followers, not independent enough to take stands when they need to and voice their opinions even when they aren't popular.

I'd hate to see you become a parent because no child should ever have to know their parent by how much they apologize for their actions. "Oh, I'm so sorry my kid isn't old enough to be smart." Do you even understand how much that could destroy a child? Even worse, you're just part of the angry mob. The kind of person who gets mad that someone else gets too upitty and thinks that they should just fall into place because they owe you. Tell me, what do those parents owe YOU? What have you done for any of them that would make them owe you. You exist alongside them, nothing more, nothing less and they wouldn't notice if you were there or not so don't go around thinking that anybody owes you anything when you're just background scenery.