One Clear Dot

…than the adults.

Today I did my friend a favor and picked up two of her children after school to take them to their bowling league thing. It’s the last day of the program for this school year and they had trophy day and free food and a cake. It was a madhouse, but according to my friend – it always is.

I was so amazed at how much better behaved the children were than their parents. Since I did not have my own daughter with me and the kids I was with were engrossed in bowling, I had the opportunity to just sit and people-watch.

Every time the coordinators tried to get the group be to be quiet, the children all immediately obeyed, stopping to listen for direction. The parents, though, kept on talking in their bunches, shrieking with awkward laughter, and generally ignoring the people who were trying to bring order to the masses.

The biggest offenders were women, but a particular type of woman. Once I describe them, I am sure you will realize you know at least one person like this:

Women who need to be liked, be accepted, be noticed. They dominate group conversations, talk loud, laugh at inappropriate times and throughout it all, they really say very little of interest. They talk a lot about themselves, their own children and their husbands. They interrupt others frequently and you just know they are only listening for breaks in conversation so they can interject.

They also tend to be the women who feel the need to wear tight jeans and sparkly stiletto hellos. To the bowling alley. In the afternoon. Around children. Who needs to dress like that all of the time? People who NEED to be noticed.

It reminded me about how carefully I choose my friends. I am happy that all of my female friends are not only intellectual and genuinely interesting; they are also confident and bright. They are noticed because they are likeable, not because they walk around forcing people to notice them.

I was proud of the kids, but irritated by the adults.

Posted on May 2nd, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Life in the U.S.