How you start will show how they finish!

Went to dinner at PF Changs last week.  There was an hour or so wait, but it was cool.  As me and the wife waited in the seating area, there was a large party also waiting to be seated.  An older man and woman were sitting in the waiting are when a young girl around 13 came and squeezed in next to them.  She sat realclose to my wife, but didn't say excuse me. While sometimes children can be rude, you half expect the adults to correct them.  Nope! But hey, we just looked at each other and said maybe it's cultural.  

Fast forward three minutes and the little girls brother comes and starts leaning on her as she is trying to sit.  He's around 12 years old, so they obviously have some close sibling dislike for each other. As he is leaning on her, she is pushing back and they are both bumping into my wife.  We ease over some since the adults are both engrossed in their cellphones to correct this nonsense.  Suddenly, the young man turns toward his sister, raises up and swings a HARD overhand right into the top of her head! Every one in the waiting area jumped and looked in shock.  The adults tell the young man stop doing that, and go back to there phones.  The girl gets up and runs to the lobby area trying to get away from the embarrassment before she starts to cry.

Two minutes later, the Mother comes back to the waiting area (I had thought the adults that were sitting were the parents, but they were an Uncle and a great Aunt). She asks the boy what happened, and he said she hit me first. The Mother states "if you do that again, I will get your Father" and then walks away!  I am in shock!  Let's review how much damage was done by the adults here....

1) By not making the children at least be cognizant of the fact that they were being rude, you have reinforced the idea that they don't have to care about how there actions affect other people.  As adults, they will be the same self centered asses that you complain about at work.

2) By not immediately correcting the violence that was perpetrated toward the young lady, you created some horrible precepts for the rest of her life.  If you are physically attacked by a man, and you run to your mother, she will only half support you and let the man place some of the blame on you.  You can be embarrassed dear, but no one will really come to your rescue.  When her husband or boyfriend is whooping her behind regularly, you can go back to this point right here (and probably others as this is probably a pattern of the household).

3) By allowing the young man to get away with this act, you have told him that violence against the weaker is an acceptable way to work out your issues.  Hit your sister as hard as you can, and nothing will happen.  Unfortunately, this young man may run into someone other than a parent to correct him, and that may not end well for him.  This is the start of the jerk of a guy women complain about.  

Let's support our children, raise our children, teach our children, correct our children....and love our children! It makes them better adults!