Do You Compliment Well-Behaved Kids?
Seems like there's always a thread or two (or three) on screaming kids, kicking kids, etc. and how to handle them/what to say. What about the opposite? Every now and then I run into an extremely well-behaved child and I make it a point to give the parent a compliment. One example that comes to mind was a toddler behind me who was so well behaved that I didn't even realize a kid was back there till we started our descent. At that point, he did a small bit of wailing because of his ears and it shocked me to see him back there because he'd been stellar throughout the whole trip. Better than many adults!
I know good parenting shouldn't warrant a compliment because it should be the norm. But sadly it doesn't seem to be anymore so I like to reinforce the good parents and who knows, maybe the bad ones will overhear and learn something (yeah, I know, ain't gonna happen but I can dream).