DEAR ABBY: May I air a few gripes? Maybe someone will take notice.
I cringe when I see someone throw trash on the ground, or dump it out of a car window. I saw a lady in a new Mercedes dump her filled ashtray out the window at a stoplight. I honked my horn and gestured, but she ignored me and drove off.
I hate seeing people scream and hit their kids in public. I always wonder if they do that in public, what will they do when no one is looking?
Why can't schools teach courses in kindness, patience and manners?
Why do people buy dogs, then never take them on walks, never take them in the car when they go out, and make them languish in lonely backyards? Don't they know that dogs are pack animals who crave companionship and get bored just like humans?
Finally, I wish schools would start early on teaching kids that having babies is not the same as playing with dolls. Teach the difficult aspects. Show them how much money flies out the door when you have kids; teach them how exhausting it can be; let them see that if you have a kid when you are a kid, you are kissing your free-spirited, fun childhood goodbye, and saying hello to years and years of hard work. -- BIBI IN SAN DIEGO
DEAR BIBI: Lessons in kindness, manners, consideration for others and self-control should be taught in the home long before a child sets foot in school. But it may please you to know that in some high schools they are attempting to teach teens the responsibilities that parenthood entails. They "handcuff" automated dolls to students who are required to care for the "babies" day and night for one week. The dolls are programmed to cry at unpredictable intervals. I'm told that the program is very successful.