Parents be parents

I have been absent from my blog for a long time. As I think about and observe others around me, as work mostly, I see actions that make me question the need for parent testing BEFORE you become a parent. Not that I really believe this should happen, but I watch parent after parent giving away their right to raise their child to others and only wanting to be friends with them. An excellent example is the following: A father drops off 8- 10 year olds girls at the theatre to watch a movie. He had no idea they were meeting boys(yes at the age of 10). The theatre had a minor problem with the print that was quickly fixed. Remember that fact as it will play into the rest of the story. Through out the movie the manager on duty had to go into the theatre and tell the children to be quite, put their cell phones away, stop changing seats and stop running in and out of the movie. The next day, the father calls the theatre and ask to speak to the manager complaining that the girls did not get to watch the movie due to all the problems that had occurred during the movie. The manager on duty was not the same as the one the night before so, she told him she would look into it and call him back. After talking to the manager from the night before and checking the projection booth log for problems, she called the father back. She told the father that the only problem the print had was during the previews and it was fixed quickly that the patrons did not miss any of the movie itself. The only other problem that was in that theatre was a group of young people, both male and female, that was being disruptive and the manager had to go in several times telling them to be quite and get off their phones and stop changing seats and not to run in and out and in and out. After the theatre manager on duty finished telling the father this, the tone of his voice changed... the dawning that his sweet daughter had "exaggrated"... in other words lied was appearant in his voice. And nothing else was said. My question is this: What kind of parent drops off 8-10year old girls to go the movies alone? In this day and times, how could you feel that this is a good parenting practice? If we as parents want to do our job correctly, it will mean we have to say NO, you can not go without parents with you to the movies. It means putting your childrens welfare above what they want. It means putting with is best for the child above whether or not the child wants it. Children are not yet able to make most decissions. It DOES NOT hurt a child for a parent to be with them, it does not hurt them if THEY think it is embarrassing for their parents to be around. Parents should be part of a child's life, not drop them off somewhere and hope they will know how to act and nothing will happen to them. It is time for parents to grow up and be parents!