A Lesson Learned From Ice Cream

A friend of mine was at a local ice cream parlor the other night and standing in front of her were two young children about the age of five or six. They were there without any adults.

After placing their order for two cones they discovered they only had enough money for one and they found themselves very disappointed. My friend being the generous person that she is stepped forward and paid for the extra cone so that the two young kids could enjoy a sweet treat on a hot summer night.

Now that should have been the end of a nice little story but sadly there was one little detail I left out. The children took their cones from the window server, turned and walked away never saying a word to their generous benefactor. A sweet and nice gesture on the part of a caring individual fell on deaf ears and the lack of appreciation was heard loud and clear.

The excitement of getting the cone was not enough to offer a word of thanks. It was quite obvious that an acknowlegement from them was not going to come but what was sad was that these children didn't even have an expression of graditude on their little faces.  

Where did these children come from? Where were their parents at 8:30 at night? Why didn't they know how to say thank you? What did they learn from the gesture that they just received? Too many questions without any answers but one thing is for sure: many kids are not being taught respect in their homes.

The fault lies here not in the children because we all know kids will be kids, but in the parents. With all of the horrible things that happen to children every day letting very young children be out on their own without supervision is only a recipe for disaster. Parents of these children should be ashamed of themselves, not only were they not supervising their kids they had not instilled in them a need to be appreciative for acts of kindness. Simply put they lacked respect. 

Although it was an eye opening experience for my wonderful friend I know that she wouldn't hesitate to do it again because her parents taught her right.