A Fine Bit of Parenting

Last night I went out to Greenlake for a short hour of hour of fishing after dinner. I grab a little time whenever I can in the evenings. My wife and daughter hit the playground, and I had them drop me off near the small dock on the Southeast side of the lake. It's quiet and sheltered by trees, and I have actually seen people catch trout from this dock, so I thought I would give it a try.

The paths around Greenlake are pretty busy, so it is common to get curious people stopping by to ask about fishing. Children are always inquisitive, of course. I like children, so I take time to answer their questions. But for the most part, I had the dock to myself. It has a 180 degree view of the lake that is pretty spectacular, and I sat there for a long while enjoying the evening light, and getting mesmerized by the patterns on the water.

Then a boy ran up, stuck his face in mine and asked me what I was doing. He was maybe 11 years old. I explained that I was baiting my hook. We talked about PowerBait, and how it is basically stinky Playdoh. His mom walked up too, and I said hello. They had their bikes with them, and it looked like the whole family was out for a ride.

Normally that's where it ends, and I go back to fishing. But this kid peppered me with questions, while standing about an inch from me. Mom stood directly behind me, and I could hear the buttons on her phone clacking as she typed away the entire time. It was difficult to cast with the two of them crowding me, and I had to warn the boy to stand back a little. After I sat down, he proceeded to tug on my line my line, grab the reel, and actually crawl under my fishing pole as it dangled over the edge of the dock. I asked him nicely not to do this, and mom and dad chided him. He then grabbed my net out of my gear bag, and began dipping it in the water. After he slapped the water a few times, dad asked him to stop as he was scaring the fish.

He stopped for only a few moments before he was back to doing it again. At this point I was worried he was going to fall in, or drop my net. He was balancing on the lip around the edge of the dock, and actually tried to walk over my pole. This prompted dad to point out it was rude behavior, but he did nothing. Mom just murmured absent-mindedly while clicking away on her phone.

It was about then that two women in yoga pants showed up, and started doing stretches. So it was the kid on one side, mom and dad behind me, and the women exercising on the other side. I was doing a slow burn at this point. I thought, it's a pretty big lake, so why does everyone have to be pressed up within five square feet of me? Now the kid was digging through my tackle box, and I had to warn him that he was about to grab a lure with a nice big treble hook attached. Dad told him not to touch other people's things without asking, but again did nothing.

This went on for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably about fifteen minutes. The family finally left, and dad thanked me for being so indulgent. I managed to get in one last cast, and regain my peace of mind before I had to go. But I have to say that was some of the worst parenting I have seen in a long  time. I would never allow my daughter to get up in someone's personal space like that, let alone go rifling through their stuff, and interfere with what they were doing. I was pretty astounded the whole time that it was really happening. I kept waiting for mom and dad to step in, but they did nothing besides giving out a few warnings they did not enforce. And really I blame the parents for their kid's behavior. They are the kind of people who give parents (and kids) a bad name.