I'm clearly getting to parenting age because a lot of bad parenting has been especially bothering me recently. The other day Huyen and I were at the gym when some lady came in with her two children who were roughly three and maybe 16 months tops. The lady got on the treadmill and let her children meander around the gym like it was their personal playground. I mean, could there be a worse idea than letting an infant walk around a gym? I was on an elliptical machine, staring at the kid wondering how many different ways he might lose a limb or worse. There were free weights around, moving parts on treadmills and bikes, etc. As soon as I saw the unescorted kids, I turned to Huyen and said, "Are you serious?" Well, it wasn't more than two minutes later when the infant found the giant blue abdominal/pilates ball and started to push it around. He winded up pushing it across the floor into the water tank stand. Sure enough the giant bottle of water fell over (thankfully not landing on the kids head) as well as the plastic cups on the stand.
The mother promptly got off the treadmill and sort of scolded her infant. Of course this is when I began to wonder, "Who is gonna scold you you freaking idiot!" The mother then took her two kids and sat them down on the treadmill next to the one she was using. She then got back on the treadmill and continued to work out. When I left the gym the kids hadn't yet had another accident. However, with the treadmill spinning about six inches away from them, it was probably only a matter of time before something bad was going to happen.
Here's just a fact of life: LITTLE CHILDREN AND GYMS DO NOT MIX!
