Dear Parents

I'm so tired this year of listening to parents either swear up and down their child couldn't be evil or swear up and down their child is evil.

Public Service Announcement: Children are sociopaths. They grow out of it. Be a decent parent and admit that they might just not like you; it's part of parenthood. Eventually, they grow out of it, or grow in to different phases. This is also normal. Also, none of this behaviour is particular to any type of child-- "Oh, but my child has one/two/eight siblings!" Guess what-- they're still a little sociopath.

I may not BE a parent, but I have godkids and I care for over 100 children every day of the week and have studied child development.

They KNOW lying is bad, but they're gonna try until it doesn't work anymore.

They KNOW they're sucking up, but they're gonna try until it doesn't work anymore.

And if the people you surround yourself with are decent people, it will stop working. I have kids suck up to me every damn day, but when they do something mean or wrong, I call them to the mat for it. Now, instead of attempting to ingratiate they're just nice and respectful.

/minirant

Seriously.

I know this sounds mean, but good grief I see this every day. I am a child care PROFESSIONAL. I also guarantee you that if you look around, you'll find children are behaving 75% of the time-- any combination of church, school, home, and outside care (after school, Sunday school, babysitters, etc.) as long as you leave one of those out. Most often, they misbehave at home.

/butreallyimdone