"Would you say that having to witness the behavior of an adult with a cogitive or physical disability is horrible for you?" Unfortunately, some folks out there would say yes, based on what I and the people I work with have experienced. Segregation of I/DD adults and other groups with visible disabilities is alive and well in some parts of the united states.

So many good points here. Also, I love your natural freckles!

I really enjoy your videos on parenting, I feel like I learn so much and it gets me thinking about my own values and expectations which makes me a better parent, and also helps me be more supportive of all the kids I encounter in life as well their parents.

Often places are hostile to children, even when they know better. Back in the day being very low income , once a month I would take my 5 under 5 kids to the seating area in the local grocery store we could walk to, since we could purchase with food stamps. We went every month, sometimes more than once, and even though the employees knew us buy name I swear they held their breath every time we walked in, there had never been incident, we all sat relatively quite, just normal lunch chatter, but they still expected a melt down. Since we never had to wait for food and this was habit there was no reason to treat us like we where there to burn the place down. If this is the treatment 'well behaved' kids who everyone was familiar with received imagine the immediate stress a child has being exposed to people like that on a regular basis, I might melt down eventually too! I was taught children will meet your expectation, whether that's living up to or down to is on the parent. (not suggesting to have unreasonable expectation, but maybe don't open with the expectation of the worst case scenario with no proof past age.

Finally a good take on this

I feel sad and angry that children are not more welcome in most places. I've noticed that my friends with children often seem to assume that I don't want to hang out with them unless their kids are elsewhere. This makes me even more sad, both for them and the kids. I enjoy being around children and find that their purity of wonder, joy, curiosity and love is something I benefit from seeing and sharing in. Too many adults lose sight of those things and could stand to spend more time in the presence of children. So long as they let them be who they really are without judgement instead of trying to make them act like adults. I think we all lose so much by keeping children out of public spaces and definitely by expecting them to be something they are not. You don't see birds pushing their babies to fly before they even have feathers. It's no wonder human children struggle so when that's essentially what's being asked of them.

Is it really that bad in the US? Not an issue at all here south of the border

@rainbowconnected

Ай бұрын

It really is that bad. My neighbors have small children. There is a serious speeding problem on our street. When we talked to the local cop, his response was that the children shouldn't be walking with their parents in the neighborhood or playing in their yard. The other cops that have been called about it laughed it off. So apparently, these kids don't have a right to safely exist in their own neighborhood, but reckless driving that could harm everyone is fine. Some of these drivers when asked by the parents to slow down even tried to hit them with their cars. Cops ignored that too. How are children treated in public spaces where you are? I'd be very curious to hear.

What is your idea of a child-friendly restaurant? I'm not asking to be argumentative; I'm asking because I don't have kids and I'm not around them much, so I genuinely don't know. I agree that a lot of restaurants set kids up to fail, but I don't know what a business can do to set a kids up for success.

@CaffeinatedTigress

Ай бұрын

To me, a 'child-friendly' restaurant is set up that you can't hear what the people in another booth are doing. We took ours to places like roadhouse or family buffets. really, it's about knowing your kid though. Mine's 16 now, but we were easily able to take her to upscale restaurants where they'd look at us wary at the door (her being 2-4 years old) but she'd end up with a free dessert because she sat quietly, ate well, and didn't bother a single person there. If she dropped anything, her father and I cleaned it up. You can do your best to set your child up for success by making sure you're not going out when they normally nap or really hungry. But if they're a live wire no matter what - yeah... better stick with places that have a play-place or where there's people constantly moving (like a buffet) and work on positive reinforcements in how you're expecting them to behave.