Good Parenting?

I settled down in my seat with my juice can and the tub of popcorn, waiting for the movie to start. I always like to catch the movie right from the beginning, including the advertisements and documentaries, though I may not watch them. I glanced around casually, wondering how full the theatre would soon be, and also idly commenting to my friend on the various people who were walking in.

A little boy said..."excuse me"  and I moved my legs to let him pass. He had a satchel on his back, and he soon settled down two seats away from me. Thinking some accompanying adult would follow him, i sat with my legs stretched out in the aisle.  But the movie soon started, and I found that the boy had settled down quite comfortably and was already attacking his tub of popcorn. I had  thought for a moment that he may have come without his parents' knowledge. But there were no furtive glances around, he looked pretty comfortable, so i discounted that thought. The thought that he may have come unaccompanied crossed my mind, but I ridiculed the idea and started watching the movie, and soon was immersed in the storyline.

Sometime just before the intermission, I saw the boy again. The seat next to him was still empty.  When the lights came on, I started talking to him. He told me his name, the class and the school he was in etc. When I asked him why he had come alone for the movie, he told me that his friends had gone for another movie in the same multiplex, but he wanted to see this one so he was here alone.

Now, the movie was not exactly kids' stuff, and certainly not to be watched unsupervised. In fact the certificate clearly said under parental guidance. Let alone the fact that the child is going home with unanswered questions about the movie, how neglectful could the parents get, sending a ten-year-old alone to a theater, where you have absolutely no idea who is going to be sitting next to you?  Did they for a moment think about the possibility of  harm befalling the child?  He did not even carry a phone, for at the end of the movie, he asked me for mine, to call his dad to come and pick him up. 

I was very uncomfortable with the whole incident; without really giving it a second thought, I picked up my phone, and called the number the child had called, and spoke to the father. I was prepared to be told to mind my own business, but I was in for a ruder shock. The father simply says, that the boy was being very adamant about wanting to go for the movie, so they sent him. 

So tomorrow if the boy asks for the moon, will they buy off NASA? Or as an adolescent, when he has primal urges, will they allow him to have his way?

Now I know why  society is on a downward slide. It is simply because we are not being responsible parents. We are only being good parents. We are not teaching children the difference between wants and needs. We are not teaching them delayed gratification, we are not teaching them impulse control. Result? Go ahead and break traffic signals, throw acid on people, because you do not get what you want, then and there, generally live life the way you are comfortable, and let the world go to the brink of destruction. What good is a moral science lesson going to do, when parents are not able to follow the basic tenets of raising a child?