WebMD Community Talk Show

Yes the behavior has gotten worse over the years, but with social media and smart phones it has become more visible as well. From what I have seen, most of these outbursts are happening at sporting events or some place where there may be competition. I personally believe many of these parents are trying to live vicariously through their children. Dont get me wrong i know kids can be very competitive, but they actually understand its a game and the next day at school they will be buddies again, win or lose. But their parents want to push junior/juniorette to be the next great athlete and they will stop at nothing to further their dream. I dont have any issues with wanting to push your kids to be better at something, but I do have an issue when the kid's best interests arent at heart. Pushing them in a direction they dont want to go is going to do more harm than good, it will strain the relationship with the child and parent. There is nothing wrong with wanting the best for your children, its only natural. But you need to use some sense and look out for whats best for the child and not best for YOU.

I think parents are uptight ESP about their kids. Instead of attacking each other as parents you have common ground why not support each other in the struggle of raising children regardless of parenting differences. Everyone take a deep breath or a Valium!

I deal with people from aged from mid teens to their 90s. There is NO age limit on this behavior. I work in a call center for an insurance company. The nonsense that people do and say never ceases to amaze me. I have been told that the company should pay for an inground swimming pool since it would help that person lose weight! When told, no way he(aged 50ish) flipped out and wanted to know what on earth he was paying for?

ha! you should of said only if your a beached whale!

Interesting comment, given the topic.

Oh chillout, its called sarcasm.

I do think that adults' behavior has gotten worse, but it is true that we're also able to see it more often.

TV shows like the "Real Housewives of...", "Dance Moms" and many others glorify nasty, selfish, ridiculous behavior and make it seem almost mainstream. It seems that any time someone gets in trouble, they're offered a reality show. Bad behavior can be generously rewarded, and people become more and more immune to it, so it becomes more acceptable.

Anonymous anger on the internet also contributes to despicable behavior, I think. People don't feel the need to be kind, or even civil, or to try to put themselves in another person's shoes. People are reduced to the kind of name-calling that used to be reserved for grade-school students.

This may sound off the wall, but I also think that adults are more immature than they used to be, and that contributes to rude behavior. It used to be that when people hit their 20s, they were expected, in general, to become responsible and mature. Now, a lot of people want to hang on to their youth much longer, and often maintain the sort of self-centeredness that we often have as teenagers.

Of course, these are all generalizations. There are still a lot of kind, caring people in the world. It just seems like there are fewer of them all the time.

It's a really disturbing trend, and I'm glad I'm old enough that I won't be around to see what people are like in 30 or 40 years.

It's ridiculous. How on Earth are kids supposed to learn how to behave in public if their parents are complete morons? Some of them are managing, though. I actually had a teenage boy apologize to me for his father's behavior at a store last month. I was waiting in line at the checkout, and some idiot on his cell phone pushed me to get ahead of me in line! His son asked if I was alright and said he was sorry for his father's behavior. I thanked him and asked if HE was alright or if he wanted me to call someone. He gave a sad little laugh and said his mother had sent him to try to keep his father out of trouble. Great family, right?

Factoring the folks who think their kids should raise themselves, the hyper-competitive parents who can even ruin little league, the cell-phone addicted self-important idiots and the teen parents, and I despair for the future generations. I feel somewhat better when I encounter kids who are better behaved than their parents, though, because maybe the pendulum is finally swinging in the other direction and the behavior of these psychotic parents is no longer going to be tolerated.

I disagree. Kids can have morons for parents and do OK. My daughter is getting her M.S. from USC next year.

She won't go to the store with me, though...

I agree that social media had played a major role- it's caused a vicious circle. With YouTube (shooting a child's laptop?! Really?!) and television (starting with Jerry Springer) glorifying bad behavior, it is being taken from backstage to the lime light so you are more aware of what's going on- just like societal violence- so it seems more prevalent.

Now that you're more aware of it, thus seeming more common, people are free to think of this as the norm rather than the exception. Even adults can be influenced by example. They act out and get themselves on the web or TV so they can influence others to behave poorly. And the snowball builds.

I honestly don't thinkit's any worse. I think we're still far better behaved than we were 200 years ago, even 40 years ago.

I disagree...and you're out of your mind!

Did you live 200yrs ago? I am in my 50's and I have seen adults simply act like screaming idiots. Also I have seen the change of drug use in adults. Children are raising themselves and if you don't believe that go to an elementary school for a week and listen to the kids.

Donna Fontanille

yeah...you are absolutely nuts. 200 years ago adults in the western hemisphere were enslaving other adults because of the color of their skin. and while I am not ignorant to the fact that slavery still exists today, we have progressed.

can't think of adults behaving any more poorly than in their act of enslaving others because of their skin tone.