Be Warned.... I'm going to rant and complain here...
...and not even about knitting... so you may just want to move along now...My sis and I took our girls to the County Fair last night to see the All-American Rejects. They had a blast. Lilly (here in the picture with Kaity) said it was the "best night of her life." It was THAT good. They are her FAVORITE band.
(Fans can click here for video from last night - and all the bad singing you hear is us, not the band!)
We waited in line for 5 hrs and had GREAT 5th row seats - they were in perfect, screaming, teenage girl heaven. It was so fun to watch them and remember what it was like.
However, I'm now old, and a parent, and as I became painfully aware last, - one of those "mean, old-fart parents."
1) Teenage girls do NOT wear enough clothing - well, MINE do, but, seriously, don't these girls have parents? Who lets them walk out of the house "un"dressed like that!!??
2) Toooooo many teenagers have NO respect for their "elders." (yeah, how "old fart" does that sound!).
A few of them will respond to "the look" - and I can give a good look. But, WAY too many totally ignore you, give you their look back - or worse get all uppity with you and tell you exactly what they think...
Here's the scenario. Now... I'm not completely lame - I know we have seats, but I also know that we will be standing for the entire concert. You have to stand to dance and sing the whole time, even I do - I understand that.
But, you do not have to stand on your chairs, completely blocking everyone's view. Which is what the girls directly in front of my girls do. Which my girls are not allowed to do... So, I politely tell them to get off their chairs, they're blocking everyone's view, and they refuse. I ask them again, not so politely this time, and, they give me their look, and they proceed to tell me why they won't. (Now, everyone else around us is yelling at them, too - to get off their chairs - I'm just the closest and boldest, to actually tap them on their backs, and look at them, and get in their face about it). Like it worked.
Mind you, this is all just with the WARM UP BAND on stage.... it gets worse.
So we shuffle around in our seats, so our girls can see around the standers...
Then the All-American Rejects come on.... and all the people who have completely filled up the aisles, because they didn't wait in all line all day and don't like their seats - they're just going to shove their way up as close as they can...
and into our seats , and ONTO our seats.
Uh.... NO! "Get off our seats! Move - get OUT!" "These are our seats!!" They are literally on our seats, or standing directly behind my girls, between them and their seats.... way too close..., and - "Hello! - these are OUR seats! GET OUT!!!
Oh, they move - for a while, but it goes on, and on, and on..... all concert long. They were like vultures. Unbelievable.
I hate festival seating....
Teenagers can be scarily rude and self-centered...
I am officially and "old fart" fun sucker...
I still had a great time....
Our girls had the BEST TIME!...
I'm very proud that I have polite kids who can roll with the punches and still have a great, screaming, teenage girl, time of their life.... without ruining it for the people around them...
I'm done now...
posted by Lynda @ 10:01 AM
5 Pair - hey, it's a start
First Place, Gospel Light
The Way of the Master
33 Comments:
If your an old fart, then I must me older, because I was yelling louder than you. I wanted to push them off their freakin chairs! I hate people.
*be older
You are not being an old fart! Rudeness is rudeness no matter what your age. Festival seating is just a bad idea...you can't trust the majority of people to have manners, sadly. I see more and more of an attitude of selfishness and entitlement in the last genration or two (your kids excluded, clearly they are WAY polite). There is just an overwhelming absence of common decency. And they definitely dress skanky.
We had some "issues" at the Keith Urban concert too. The drunk wanna-be cowgirl sluts were absolutely DISGUSTING. (And you KNOW I'm the farthest thing from a prude.) And, these very FAT girls, (and you know I'm not even close to not-fat) wearing absolutely NOTHING.
Fortunately, my 11yo Sweatpea came away from the concert with the joy of having seen her "first crush" sing "to her", and with the opinion that alcohol is for losers, and that those girls needed a good long t-shirt to cover up with!
Sheesh.
Well - I guess we had that going for us.... these girls were too young drink - just high school girls with LOTS of attitude.
You go, old fart. My half of the teenage contingent remarked on the way home that while they were tempted to stand on the seats too, that would just make it miserable for the people behind them and it's just not right. Good for them. I know there's still a few good kids out there, but the others (and you can include many adults in that category) seem to stand out.
And, I'm the only one that complained about the concert being too short (even if it was free), so I guess that makes me an old fart too. Those pretty blue eyes on stage didn't brainwash me into thinking that 5 hours of standing in line deserves only about 45 minutes of performing. The teenage girls were still in heaven, though, and I guess that's what it's all about.
It was fun, though. I was singing and screaming right along with them!
So rude! I'm glad you guys were able to have fun anyway.
Ack!
Rudeness is NOT cool. I might have starting pulling hair (which would have been rude...It's contagious!)
Yay for you, Yay for Kaity. Yay for the other two...Barb and Lilly?
Yay that you had fun. I also prolly would have let in ruin my fun.
i must be getting old or something. because once upon a time i would have loved going to a concert like that, yelling my head off, not caring who was on my chair or not (and probably equally contributing to the moving around bit). but just reading your post made me think that i've now moved on to a different age group, because i would MUCH rather sit quietly at home with a pair of needles, or a book (doesn't THAT sound old). =)
Freakin excited like no other!!! that was flippin awesome!!! woo-hoo i didnt even are if ppl were on my seats after a while, as long as Claire and i could freakout together and see tyson (like the chicken)!! even though he didnt take off his pants.....haha
You aren't old (cause I totally agree and I'm not old) you have manners and standards. Unfortunately for the great kids like Kaity, the others often give all kids a bad name. The attitude of entitlement and complete lack of respect for others is generational and getting worse. You go girl, don't back down and be proud.
Way to go mom for raising non-heathens!!
Amy
I was the the old fart's grandstand area for Wynonna and could see all that stuff going on but the only thing that bothered us (besides the no-clothes issue)was the adults buying the beer for kids!! You can't tell me they were anywhere near drinking age. I've always been proud of my kids, and now my grandkids,
behaviour.....you can take them anywhere and they are welcome (if sometimes silly) company!
No, that's annoying for all ages. The nerve and the bad manners... disgraceful.
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I don't think expecting people to wear decent clothes and be polite means you are old. It just means you are normal. I'm so glad the girls didn't let it ruin their fun concert!!
We were at a concert recently in an indoor arena. There were a group of girls behind us and they screamed the whole time. It was Bob Dylan - for crying out loud. Totally NOT scream worthy in MHO. I've never been a fan - I mean really. If I held my nose and sang with a half dozen marbles in my mouth I could sing better than him. Anyway - I digress. My husband finally had enough towards the end, turns around to the girls and yells SHUT UP to them VERY loudly!! Not a peep out of them after that. Unfortunately, many teens today are raising themselves with TV, the computer and cell phones and have not been taught simple manners or respect for themselves or for others. We can only hope that they will either outgrow it and become decent adults or that they will be repaid by bearing offspring worse than they were - when they will then be the OLD FARTS!!
I agree with your feelings about the rudeness you experienced ... but then I AM old and I AM an old fart. LOL, but we all hope our own children will do better than what we see out there. Behaving decently towards others & all. Hard to know what they do once out of your sight tho. Your girls are "gems" tho from what I've seen of Kaity's crafty blog. Congratulations, Mom!
I always imagined that I would be one of those "cool" parents, but sadly, this is not the case. At least you were cool enought to take them to the concert! Your story is precisely why I never go to concerts.
"Be Warned.... I'm going to rant and complain here...
...and not even about knitting... so you may just want to MOVE ALONG now..." Hehehe, I just got the pun. Move Along? Get it?
Ha! I remember when I went to a Gin Blossoms concert when I was 17. I was so upset by the behavior of the rest of the crowd that I left early. I don't think any of them were actually there for the music. They were just there to scream and be stupid in public. I wish people, of all ages, would realize that having fun doesn't mean forgetting your manners.
But I've always been a bit of an old fart. =)
good for you for standing up for yourself and your girls! I'm glad that you didn't let those brats ruin your night! ; )
Oh ho. That would sooooo be me!! I would really let loose, then have to pray for forgivness for the words that might have come out of my mouth. RRRRRUUUUDDDEEEEE! I would be so mad. (again, praying for forgivness here...)
What's with the clothes thing?! It's very hard to find clothes that fit teenagers these days. E is just turning 12 and has had to shop in the junior's department for a while now (she's 5'4"). Even she doesn't like low-rise jeans, short and tight tops, etc. So she usually shops in the women's section.
And I have to agree with everyone else. A lot of people are very inconsiderate these days. Grrr....
Yeah- I'm an old fart too. I'm the first one to bark at ill-behaved kids. (I just hope mine behave when I'm not looking.)
Sign me up for the "old fart club". If not tolerating the rudeness of teenagers makes us "old farts", then that's fine....lets start a club!
Wow! Good for you for sticking to your guns, and good for your girls for having fun no matter what! It's unbelievable what some kids "do".
Ugh, The Public. I try to stay away from The Public as much as possible. I can only imagine what The Teen Public must be like. Wow. Sorry you had to deal with that, but I'm so proud of you for sticking up for yourself and your girls! I don't think that makes you an old fart at all. Just a person with manners.
Now, I'm sure this makes me sound old--Who the hell is the All-American Rejects????
You've done brilliantly as a parent. :) Really, it seems that all too few kids are instilled with even any AWARENESS of others around them, much less respect.
Rude makes me crazy. My children are not allowed to be rude and (luckily) I've never had anyone tell me that they've been rude actually I've had comments on their politeness. (they're afraid to lose their priveledges).
And I agree teen age girls do not wear enough clothing. My daughter is only 5 and I'm terrified of what the fashions will be when she's a teenager. But whatever they are she will wear enough clothing (I'm an old parent). ;)
I know I hear myself saying things like this all the time - "kids today", etc. (and I don't even have kids.) It really does seem that well mannered kids like yours are the exception rather than the rule, sadly enough. Trust me, I am sure that people do notice that yours are polite and appreciate it! Thanks for stopping by my blog today too!
I agree with you on the concert seat thing! I HATE when people in front of me stand on their seats! (I must be an old fart, too!) :-)
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