Advertise
With Us

Click here to request more information.
OC Family reaches:

• Active & educated parents
• Growing families
• And more...

Editor's Note

Crossing the line By Kimberly A. PorrazzoPublished: September, 2009

Print This Article Email This Article RSS Subscribe

I wonder if you are reading this while sitting in your car in the school parking lot, waiting to pick up your child. If so, my hat’s off to you. You are the parent who plans ahead in order to play by the rules. You know precisely when to put down the laundry basket or log off your computer, in order to get to the school parking lot early enough to find a “legal” parking space. This is for you.     Unfortunately, it’s the person who will soon drive up next to you, pretending not to see you and blocking you in, who really should be reading this. As you ponder how grownups can be so thoughtless, take solace: THAT is the parent who will one day be sitting in the school counselor’s office trying to figure out why Johnny cheated on his exam. THAT is the parent who will be exasperated when Suzie pushes the limits of her curfew. How do I know this? Because the school parking lot is a mere microcosm of the real world, and children inherit much more than physical attributes from their parents.     While children learn during their school day to follow rules and wait their turn, their parents are waging war in the parking lot. They park illegally, pen in the early birds and defy direction from the school supervisors. I’ve witnessed parents simply stop their car in the middle of the traffic lane to wait for their child, as if no one else had anywhere to go! As the person often in the car right behind them, my polite tap on the horn has been answered with a gesture that would have my child grounded for months.     And, can you even believe the parents who wave their child across three rows of idling SUVs to the car door they’ve flung open, just so they don’t have to circle the lot again? Even after school supervisors tell children not to cross the yellow line on the sidewalk for their own safety, parents tell their children to break the rules.     Perhaps the worst violation of parking lot protocol is the parent who blocks another car, turns off the engine and then walks away to collect her child, leaving the blocked driver penned in and at her mercy to return.     The only consolation for us rule-followers is the warped satisfaction in knowing that these rude parents will likely be spending the time they think they’re saving in the parking lot, stuck in counseling sessions down the road, as they wring their hands and wonder why their child defies their boundaries.     And the school parking lot is just the beginning. How we behave on the Little League field, on the freeway and in line at the grocery store are all opportunities for us to model the behavior we want our children to adopt. In the end, we pass along our morals right along with our genes.     Here’s a thought: Make a few copies of this article and keep them in your glove box. The next time you’re trying to get past the car that blocked you, pass a copy through the window.     Remember, though, to offer a big smile as you do. Kimberly A. Porrazzo is executive editor of OC Family magazine and chief content officer of Churm Media.

SEARCH THE SITE