Nature vs. Nurture

Pipe down kids,

Please don't do that,

I brought you into this World,

I can take you out too,

They jump up and down

and barely miss their mother's

nose as they aim to punch

the closest thing to their

tantrum,

Ten pieces of gum fall in a

perfect circle on the carpet,

out of their mouths,

the breadcrumbs crumble

with great effort to miss their

target,

imagine Queen Elsa but with

dinner and crumbs instead of

snow,

Shhhh,

The screams grow louder and

turn to defiant laughter,

smiles and apologetic nods,

You're the one who needs to be

pardoned for your actions,

nap or no nap,

no child of mine acts this way

in public,

Duck tape or something, anything,

a well-placed glare, a word or two,

discipline is such a simple word,

and so hard to put into practice.