Comments on: Decatur Wins Big In Creative Loafing’s BOA Awards

By: reed

reed — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:56:02 +0000

don’t forget best dancehall in town…Parisdecatur

By: Atlanta Unsheltered

Atlanta Unsheltered — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:26:53 +0000

Woops, think I posted in the wrong spot. KUDOS! What an honor, and well-deserved.

By: decatur mom

decatur mom — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:28:14 +0000

Snowflake, you’ve described my sons….the oldest, a quiet teacher-pleaser who would rather die than get in trouble, at school or anywhere, and my youngest, who announced to his kindergarten class that he didn’t care if he got in trouble at school because his mom loved him anyway. And yeah, what works with one absolutely doesn’t work with the other.

I swear, I’m on them like white on rice in restaurants or other not-necessarily-kid-centered places, but I’m certain they annoy other adults at times. I try my hardest not to give “breeders” a bad name, but sometimes it happens.

By: alan

alan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:14:49 +0000

I think they really meant “gastropub,” rather than “brewpub,” although the food at BSP is kinda marginal. Thank God for Wells Bombardier.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:04:48 +0000

FWIW….I never claimed that objectionable parents are in the majority in Decatur, only that they have reached critical mass, and I stand by that. If it were not the case, then adult peer pressure would promptly shut down the (parent) behaviors that some of us find so dismaying (and face it, sometimes infuriating). In fact, most of the parents I know personally do a good job of setting boundaries and helping their children learn how to behave appropriately in public. I don’t object to the presence of children anywhere as long as they are behaving reasonably for the environment. YES–I can’t over-emphasize this–I DO believe it’s important to teach children they are part of a community, and that’s my point. Too many parents are not really teaching their children what that means. If they were, there wouldn’t be so many young children running loose in restaurants, kicking and bumping into people in lines at the coffee shop and yogurt store, and racing through the supermarket forcing innocent adult shoppers to dodge and weave with their grocery carts to avoid a collision. (And yes, we do anything to avoid it because inevitably we as the adults would get blamed.)

I don’t know what Cubalibre’s mom did, but mine somehow brainwashed us at an early age to be embarrassed if we caught ourselves–or heaven forbid if she or another adult caught us–misbehaving in public. Tantrums simply weren’t tolerated, nor were loud voices, running (unless at a playground or other specific play venue), or doing anything that could be irritating to the people around us (kicking seat backs, squabbling with each other). It didn’t stifle us, but it did teach us good manners.

Okay, I really didn’t mean to hijack this thread, which began as well-earned and richly deserved kudos for our own Decatur Metro. Let’s hear it again for the neighbor who makes our rants and discussions possible. Hip hip hooray!