Staff only: A new lesson about judging a book by its cover [Independent.ie]
- Published: 16 September 2009
Rightly or wrongly, I tend to judge people by the company that they keep. In the case of school kids, you'll probably consider this to be wrong if you have no children or you have been blessed with a child who values education and understands the meaning of the word 'respect'.
Then, on the other hand, maybe you've been so unfortunate as to have your child bring home another kid who walks past you in your own hallway without so much as a grunt, goes to the toilet leaving the door open, doesn't flush and then returns to your beloved offspring's bedroom to finish off a six-pack. You might try to do the right thing (or so the experts tell us) and confront your child and not the 'guest' and then you might get told to f-off.
Yes, I've been treated to plenty of gruesome stories of nasty, foul-mouthed little thugs who bully their parents and who believe that boozing all night and sleeping all day are the best ways to secure a career in Hollywood or to get on The X Factor.
I sit there at the parent-teacher meeting, full of sympathy, but as the guy who has to look for their homework or stop them from wrecking everyone else's chances in the exams, I feel just as frustrated.
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