This is not about substance abuse but some other kind of abuse. This is probably going to turn into a massive rant so bear with me because whenever I see this happening it drives me nuts.

I went to a dance recital last Sunday. My nieces were participating and being the proud aunt that I am, I went with the family to show support and watch them perform. Proud parents and relatives were all clicking away pictures with their fancy cameras and smartphones and I was amongst them too. After about ten minutes into the performance, a bright light on my right (that kind of rhymed!) kept bothering me and I looked around to see the source and saw a little boy, no more than seven years of age, playing on an iPad.

My first thought was what on earth do you want an iPad for at a dance recital? Then I thought that maybe they were using it to take pictures which is fair enough. What I couldn’t understand was why this kid was allowed to play games on the tablet as the performance went on. He was sitting next to his father who also seemed busy on his smartphone every now and then.

Things like that do not amuse me. You allow your kid to play on a tablet or smartphone because they are bored? You are the biggest idiot ever to even think of bringing your kid to such an event then. Leave them at home or with a babysitter or someone, then. Why drag them through the ‘boredom’ of watching a dance recital? Let them stay glued to their tablets at home instead of being obnoxious in a darkened auditorium.

Exactly what are you trying to teach your kids? What kind of manners are these? I go to weddings, at the Gurudwara, social gatherings and many young kids are glued to their parents’ smartphones while things are happening around them. I bet these kids have zero observational skills because instead of looking around them and absorbing what is happening, they are busy trying to up their score from the last game they played.

Parents, wise up. It doesn’t matter if you can afford to buy your kids expensive gadgets. These gadgets are not teaching them manners or etiquette of any kind. Shouldn’t they be learning to sit in an auditorium to watch what’s going on on the stage? Isn’t that why you brought them there in the first place? Wise up and be a bit more firm with your child.

Stop them from whining and getting their way every time because what you allow them to get away with now ends up becoming a lifetime (and bad) habit and it does no one good in the long run. Be more responsible and be firm if you have to. You will be doing society a great big good deed.