Feral children in the mall

Now I remember the days when parents would say things like “I’m going to slap you into next week.” Or, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.” Well, you just can’t say that anymore – it’s child abuse.  Before you jump all over me, I know abuse is a serious issue and should be treated as such.  However, what I’m talking about here is discipline.  When you knew your parents were serious and you stopped what you were doing before you got punished – usually.  Well, you apparently can’t do anything to keep kids in line anymore – it’s a free-for-all out there.  The reason I mention this is because of what I witnessed at a mall over the weekend. Wanting to relax, maybe find an item or two, I made the mistake of daring to enter a mall.  As I walked through a department store, I began to realize there was something amiss.  Several children, without parental units anywhere in sight, were wandering aimlessly.  They were pulling clothes off hangers, pulling things off shelves and in general making a mess of the place.  I looked around for an employee but the only one I spotted was clearly looking around for an adult to handle the gang taking over her store.  Okay, mind you, most of these kids look to be between 5 and 8, not ones who should’ve been left alone in a major shopping center.  Trying to ignore them was getting me nowhere, this isn’t how children should behave in public or well, anywhere for that matter.  Thus, I tried to give the one closest to me the evil eye.  You know what I’m talking about I’m sure, that look your mother, aunt, grandmother would give you.  The one which not only would make you stop dead in your tracks, but also make you want to melt into a puddle and slide out of the room.  Let’s just say it always worked when I was small.  Yet, this child simply stuck out her tongue and gave me a raspberry.  Oh, my goodness. What is this world coming too!  Then, the loudspeaker in the store began to crackle to life.  Someone proudly announce there would be a children’s story time complete with treats at such and such entrance beginning in just a few moments.  Ah, so this was why so many kids were alone.  The parents had taken this opportunity to ditch the kids for a while to shop in peace.  Fine, this would’ve worked if the children knew how to behave.  Alas, this wasn’t the case.  So, the kids, en masse, made a move towards the door and I followed.  After all, I was curious as to what would happen – there still wasn’t an adult around.  I watched, in horror, as they and goodness knows how many other kids descended upon the treat table.  Like a hoard of locusts, the sweets were gone in 3 seconds flat.  Finally, looking around, like wolves looking for their next meal, the kids were practically drooling.  The poor woman sitting in the middle of it all, dressed as Mrs. Claus, clutching a book in her hands, looked terrified.  Again, I seemed to be the only adult around and none of these kids were mine.  Shaking my head, I walked away from the store, and left the mall.  When did it become okay to raise children like this?  And what in the world are these children going to be like as adults?  I mean, lets face it, can they bring anything but chaos?  I’ve seen leaves fall from trees with more of a plan than these children had running through the mall. Craziness we can’t depend upon to rule the world…