Charm Class Part 4 ~ Manners In Public Places

 

Why Is That Clothing Rack Screaming?

There is not much that is less desirable than a stroll in a store on a Saturday afternoon with screaming little ones tearing across your grocery cart's path so that you have to jolt to a stop for fear of hitting one. Their parents completely unaware (with cell phones firmly pressed to their ears or checking their social networking sites or just busy shopping) of their children's near collision with your cart as they rush to play in the clothing racks or ride the for sale scooters or bikes down the isles and dribble the balls down the food isles.

Businesses are not playgrounds. And boys and girls need to treat them as them with respect. Children should at all times stay close to their parents in businesses using "inside voices" and treating others respectfully, including their parents. This is not just because to do otherwise is rude, it is also not safe.  There are people that would love to grab a child all alone in a store and have done so.  The child could hurt themselves or someone else.  They could run into an elderly person and make them fall or could break something on the shelves.  It is not the store's job to watch our little ones, it is our job.  If they cannot stay with us nicely they must ride in a cart until they learn to.  This may not be a really popular post, but let's face it, parents, little ones need to know how to conduct themselves in public that means at stores, restaurants, museums, etc.  How can we be a light in the darkness if our kids are acting like wild animals?  

I know there are circumstances where we have special needs children and I am not talking about them at all.  What we are talking about arable-bodied little ones that need to learn to have respect for both their parents and others.  This is being a good neighbor and a good witness.

Let's see what the bible says about the role of being a child. 

"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." (Proverbs 20:11 KJV). 

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Colossians 3:20 ESV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6:1

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 1 Timothy 3:1-16
 

"Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5:16

 "For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way of life" (Proverbs 6:23 NIV).

 “My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live?” (Hebrews 12:5b-9 The Message).

 Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. Proverbs 17:6