Bob Thomas Writes

Kids in a Bag

I recently saw a lady carrying a baby in her purse! Really! She had the kid stuck into a big purse with his little head sticking out like a loaf of bread. He seemed to be enjoying himself. . . wasn’t in distress. . .and his Mother seemed to be comfortable with him slung over her shoulder. I don’t know why I thought you would want to hear about it. . . but you have now!
I’ve also seen a lot of kids on leashes. I know that everybody and his brother has written about this, but I haven’t had a chance to put in my two cents worth! Now, I’m not opposed to putting a kid on a leash. I think it would’ve been a good idea if my Mom had kept me on a leash until I was 20 years old! But, they didn’t do that 40 years ago, they just held you by your hair and turned you head in the direction they wanted you to go. It all seemed to work real well back then. But, now days, if you grab your kid by the hair, just to steer him in the right direction, the nearest bystander will call the cops and have you arrested for child abuse and you’ll end up on the six o’clock news with your underwear over your head trying to hide your face! So, I guess the leash is O.K. But, you can’t tell me that some of you don’t long for the good ol’ days. Especially when your kid pulls the feathers off of a rare, Amazonian Parrot at the pet store!
I have also recently seen a kid that was big enough to play football riding in a stroller . He must have been at least 9 years old! His Mom said it was the only way she could get him to go shopping! She had to promise to let him ride in the stroller, and get him an ice cream cone. As I write this I can hear my Dad spinning in his grave! He was a firm believer in the adage that “Might is Right”! In other words, if he’s bigger, stronger, richer, older, smarter or meaner than you. . . he’s right! You’ll do it his way! If I had insisted that my Mom push me in a stroller and buy me ice cream , I would probably “still” be getting pushed around in some sort of cart and fed ice cream to this very day!
Kids in a bag….Kids on a rope… Kids in a stroller! I guess that about covers it for today!