I have often been witness to the loud tantrums of uncontrollable children while trying to shop. I understand that this may or may not be a result of poor parenting; sometimes it is easier to give in to the whines and demands of offspring than not. We all realize that this only creates a larger problem in that it teaches the child to act out in order to receive what he desires. I like the idea of a government agency that assigns a point system to all luxury items for children, and rations those points out on a yearly basis. Once the system is in place, parents will simply ask the child for his ticket book when a request is made. No more tickets, no more goodies. The tickets will be coded to a database to ensure there is no cheating. This system will teach the child responsibility, give the parents a fall guy, and give the rest of us some peace and quiet at the market. The point system could assign lower point values to things that encourage healthy activities, like bikes and roller skates, and higher ones for hand-held video games and televisions. It could be applied to candy and fatty snacks as well.
-- Rm Brz, Jul 30 2005

So we keep all our nice, nice capitalist dollars and then some communist system comes along that stops us spending them on children? [-]
-- hidden truths, Jul 30 2005


children of what age exactly? 20? 25? 30? 35?

you really want the government to control how you spend what is left of your salary after they have removed a hefty chunk in taxes?
-- po, Jul 30 2005


Those loud tantrums are usually due to hunger, and the item in question usually a $2 bag of chips.
-- bungston, Jul 31 2005


I'm Free .... And I'm waiting for you to fa-aa-aa-low meeee! (see HT I can restrain meself)
we go home from the store as soon as my kids get to that point. I wish everyone did this. until the situation jumped on my head, I had no idea, as a non-parent, that it was a battle for power issue.

[- ] btw. (sorry).
-- Zimmy, Jul 31 2005


Ke?
-- Texticle, Aug 04 2005


Here are the unintended consequences. Poor people who cannot afford luxuries for their children would sell their coupons to the rich. The rich would be as spoiled as ever, and the poor, denied the luxuries of childhood, will have incentive to grow up quicker so they can spend the money on adult luxuries.
-- dbsousa, Aug 04 2005


//uncontrollable children//
What rot! No such thing. They've got good energy but most are glass jawed and all have poor reach on their jabs.
-- DocBrown, Aug 04 2005


Introduce them to the beast that is government. [minus]
-- daseva, Aug 04 2005


We have just had a traditional 1950's sweet shop open up down the road from us (not often you get to use the phrase 'up down'). The shelves of sweetie jars and the kindly proprietress (in a black and red polka dot dress with netting) are too much of a temptation for most kids 'round here who have been spending around 100% of their pocket money in there. After a meeting with concerned parents, a ration card system has been instigated - which is kind of in keeping with the '50's theme.
-- wagster, Aug 04 2005


I'm not clear on how rationing restrictions will cut down on the whining and crying from rambunctious kids. My girlfriend has children like that, and she is strict with what they get, but it doesn't seem to stop them from whining anyway. It's not like telling them "no" will keep them quiet. Especially when they're tired. Some other incentive is needed to encourage them to control their own behavior, such as a reward when they're obedient or the threat of loss of privileges ("no video tonight!") if they aren't.

The government can't mandate good parenting. Maybe a nice educational program on gaining control over your children, or training seminars, would be more effective. This would help conscientious parents do better, but it wouldn't help the lazy, who are probably the ones that Rm_Brz is cheezed off about in the first place.

Maybe I'll suggest Zimmy's strategy to my gf. Although I'm not sure how to get the shopping done if we have to keep cutting it short to take the kids home...
-- junglefish, Aug 04 2005


Nothing saying you couldn't do this with your kids without any government oversight. Granted, your kids might be for in quite a shock when they find out there's no Government Nanny Agency watching to see if they eat their vegetables. I might bun it if the parents simply make up such a system.

Hmm.... vegetables->tickets->goodies. This could work with a little rework.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 04 2005


Wouldn't that be, um, an allowance?
-- junglefish, Aug 05 2005


[junglefish] I still do the major shopping without the kids. I half-day Fridays, so usually I do it then.

I tried the reward/punishment speech. It went well until about halfway through when everything broke down & I told them that they would not get the reward. It then got worse than ever before with them whining constantly about not getting the reward.

My guess is that they find shopping to be the ultimate bore. I've also tried - help Dad find the bread, milk, etc. and several other things. Nothing seems to work well for me.
-- Zimmy, Aug 05 2005



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