I have a rule with my daughter. I don't ask her to do anything that I wouldn't do myself. And folks, I'm going to go out on a limb right now and guess that no one reading this here blog would voluntarily eat moose poop. Am I right?
Alrighty then, you'll probably share in my combined outrage and horror that an adult chaperoning a middle school trip somehow thought it was a good idea to convince teens that a pile of poo was "chocolate-covered almonds" so they'd take a bite. Needless to say, the "prank" didn't go over so well with the kids' parents.
The whole disgusting moose poop debacle has resulted in an upheaval in staffing at the Walter Whyte School in Manitoba. A principal has lost his job. The superintendent is scurrying around apologizing.
But I'm still trying to come up with a plausible explanation here. What adult in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to make teenagers eat feces? Wait. Maybe that's it: obviously they weren't in their "right mind."
I have noticed more than a few adults -- parents no less -- who seem to fall into the same off their rocker category. They'll do stuff to kids that they would never dare do to another adult. Or they'll make kids do things they won't do themselves. That's everything from eating food they wouldn't eat (seriously, if you hate lima beans stop making your kid force them down m'kay?) to giving their teenager some of the scut work around the house that grosses them out (we get it, litter boxes stink ... but it's your cat!).
All I have to say to those parents? Just wait. Just you wait.
Because the kids who are raised by parents who treat them like they're "lesser than" them are going to pay it back. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually they are going to be fed up with your disrespect, and they're going to blow their lids.
Because it is disrespectful. Kids aren't play toys or servants. They're human beings just like adults. And that whole "do unto others as you would have done unto you" shtick that your parents taught you applies to THEM too.
So, if you wouldn't want someone to make you look like an idiot, don't do it to your kids. If you wouldn't want to sleep on a cold floor, don't do it to your kids. If you wouldn't want someone tricking you into eating feces from a giant mammal, don't do it to a kid. Got that?
Have you ever made your kids do something you wouldn't? What was it?
Image via natalielucier/Flickr
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Comments 23
If the pile of poop was on the ground and the kids actually believed it was chocolate covered almonds...we are raising ENTIRELY too gulible kids.
Gullible or not, the time to pull back from that "prank" was BEFORE the fecal matter ever touched their lips! SO NOT cool!
This is horribly disgusting...one more reason that I am always with my kids.
Ok, wait, making a TEENAGER eat moose poop (and unless they were tied to trees and their mouths forced open, they were not 'made'' to eat it) and having my son pick up the dog's poop from the yard or clean the litter box are NOT the same thing.
First off, those teenagers, assuming they weren't special needs of some sort, should have had the common sense not to eat moose crap. You don't eat something that looks and smells vile. You don't. Eat. Poo!!
Second, the pets belong to the family. Everybody has a responsibility to care for them, and that includes cleaning up after them. This is why our kids are such entitled little brats. We're not supposed to teach them responsibility. We're not supposed to make them do work, pitch in around the house, and learn to take care of themselves, and this is supposed to be respectful??? How do they learn to respect a mother who is constantly following behind them, cleaning up their messes? That teaches them that they are on a pedastal, and everyone around them should be doing their bidding. Honestly.
Kids must learn that they get respect by giving respect. They must earn respect. Yes, parents can, and should, treat them respectfully and kindly, to model behavior (and because it's the right thing to do), but not requiring it back, not requiring them to pitch in and be a part of the family, including chores, is ridiculous, and a huge part of what is wrong with the generations that have come after the Baby Boomers.
And for the record, I've done this trick... but it's supposed to work the other way around. You show (in my case) the pile of deer poop on the ground, then tell the kids that earlier, you picked up a few and kept them in your pouch, in case you didn't come across more. You extract the "poop" from your bag, and say, "see? It's all-natural, completely edible!" and pop a few into YOUR OWN mouth... then offer a few around as the kids are going "EEW!! Gross!!" until they realize that you've really eaten Raisinets, and then they happily partake in what you're offering.
But at no time is anyone supposed to eat actual feces.