Pretzels anyone???

Today was a nice day.  We had tickets to go see a friend play Molly in the production of Annie at the South Coast Repertory.  It was a special treat kind of day.  We started with a group lunch at Maggianos.  I had never been there before but heard raves about the place, so as soon as I walked in, I was glad I wore a dress.  My backup plan was my jeans.  Jeans go anywhere, right?  But in this case, a dress was just a little better.

I love looking at people in these places.  You can usually tell the depth of a place by the characters in the joint.

As soon as we sat down, I looked at the kids at the other end of the table and quickly confiscated their electronic toys.  I told my daughter this isn’t “that” kind of restaurant.  Within seconds all phones were in my purse.  They weren’t even about to argue with me.  It’s my standard.

We had a delicious lunch.  If I were rating the place, I would definitely give it 5 stars.

As we were leaving, we passed a table with a girl of roughly teenage years with an IPAD on her table.  It was propped up and her elbo was on the table supporting her hand which was holding her face……  She was looking through something with great interest.  I looked at the rest of the table who was engaged in conversation as this girl was clearly UN-engaged.

I rolled my eyes a bit, but didn’t think much of it; not until we got to the theater.  Now a Repertory isn’t exactly the great and grand performing arts center like the one right around the corner, however it is still a performing arts theater and it has a stage and live actors.  And therefore in my opinion there is a certain level of conduct which does NOT include a loud bag of pretzels being rattled by a kid in the front row.  And it wasn’t just a quick rattle.  It was more like an “I’m at the movies and I don’t care who’s around me” kind of rattle.

I was about 4 rows back from the noise, and I couldn’t help but stare at the back of the moms head to see if she was even slightly phased that her kid was causing a disruption.  I got my answer as soon as the kid took the bag of pretzels and threw her head back with the bag pouring into her mouth…… clearly mom just wanted the kid to be pacified and could give a rats butt about the hundreds of paying customers around her.

What’s UP with society?  Is it so hard to sit for a few hours without food in a theater?  Or so difficult to sit in a restaurant without some form of a boob tube to distract?

It’s no wonder kids can’t pay attention in school, or that we have such a whiney society.  Kids aren’t forced to engage or focus for any length of time.

I know, I know…..  I’ve gone off on this before.  But it just kind of leaves me scratching my head.  I feel like kids aren’t being upheld to any standards.  And if they are and they fail their standards, then there are no consequences.

I’ve seen some of these kids raised to adulthood.  And the end result isn’t pretty.

I’m not going to go off on the word, “Entitled”…… but it does seem to fit the bill….

The play in itself was great.  I watched my kids enjoy their friends performance on stage.  She did a great job.  My kids watched without food in their hands.

I left with a small sense of pride that my kids can sit and actually engage with those around them.  It would seem that it’s becoming more of a skill than it used to.

I thought to say something to the mom, but figured, it’s not my battle.  I actually felt sorry for the mom that she was so oblivious.  But then again, maybe society is so far gone that I am the outcast and mean mom who makes her kid live by certain rules.

Six of one; half a dozen of another???

B.S. I say…….