The Well-Behaved Family

A friend of ours has three boys, all middle school age or younger.  All three are baseball maniacs, playing on multiple teams.  Dad  is a coach, and Mom drives the minivan and provides moral support from her seat in the stands.

A couple days ago, she had an interesting post on her Facebook page.  At one of her recent games there was a kid sitting nearby in the stands with his father.  Out of nowhere, the kid starts throwing Goldfish snack crackers at his little brother, saying "I wish I had a Democrat to throw these at!"

With that, our friend piped up and said, "I'm a Democrat," at which point the little brat starts pelting her with Goldfish.  She said she immediately resolved to remain calm and not react at all.  So she just sat there and took it, waiting for the kid's oblivious father to take some notice, which he finally did, suggesting that Dear Junior might want to "stop that."  And the kid stopped.

Our friend's restraint was admirable.  I know I could not have been as so stoic.  I'd have yelled at the kid or lashed out or done something effective but embarassing and regrettable.  I'd have done the same if my kid were the one being a little jerk.

We all know that a misbehaving child has no sense of time or place.  But how does a child grow up learning it's OK to throw snack food at complete strangers who do not share his parents' political persusasion?  He picked up his vocal hatred of Democrats somewhere.

Just another symptom of our national high-speed dumbing-down; an example of what now passes for a well-behaved family here in Trumplandia.