Starting from the question, more rhetorical, if they know how their children are doing, which the singer-songwriter Mihai Mărginean addressed to the parents, after spending May 1 at Vama Veche, to supervise his teenage children, I return to events that I witnessed recently, the protagonists being the little ones, but, in some cases, also the adults to whom they “belonged”.
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that, from the age of 12, most of the boys, but also some of the girls, start addressing each other using a naked appellation, the “neighborhood” version of the testicles. Why they find this impressive, I honestly have no idea. Probably, due to the lack of maturity of the respective organs, that’s what his head tells him. And they do it everywhere, on the street, on the bus, through cafes and restaurants, in the park, loudly, without worrying about the existence of other people who can hear them. I make it clear that I do this at home too, because, honestly, the way I use the appellative every two or three words, it’s hard for me to believe that they suddenly self-censor in the presence of their parents or other adult family members. But the parents, most of the time, are the kind who drink with their butts on the steps in front of the building and then urinate in the sections or in the gardens tended by the neighbors.
In these conditions, what can you expect from the children, to recite from Eminescu? The other day, at a restaurant, the otherwise well-to-do parents of a six-year-old boy were amused by letting him swear in English, on the principle that if it’s not in his mother tongue, it’s not so bad. Well, it is, because the little ones will not distinguish between a moment of joking and a conversation with an English-speaking foreigner, in which they will find themselves intervening with the respective invectives.
Recently, some Bucharest restaurants have posted notices warning parents that they must keep their children at the table, not let them run freely among the tables. Some parents immediately got upset online, as if waiting for a child with whom you go to eat at a restaurant to sit at the table and eat is from the realm of science fiction. Well, isn’t that normal? I mean, yes, a toddler gets bored, so you, as a responsible parent, get him some toys or crayons from home and make sure you don’t order who knows what complicated dish that takes an hour to cook when you eat with your kid .
And if he wants to get up from the table, you get up with him, make sure you hold his hand, if you walk between the tables or go outside for a few minutes. Don’t let him loose among the waiters, because nobody has to be a babysitter without pay, and if someone drops a plate of hot food on his head, you’ll be angry too. Personal example remains the most powerful educational tool: if you want an educated and civilized child, make sure you behave like that at home, even when you don’t think they follow you.
