Is there hope for the kids in America?

Tonight, on my way home, I stopped at the neighborhood market for some minor grocery shopping, and saw something that piqued my interest. 

I'm in line, waiting to check out my handful of items, when a little boy who's maybe... 9 comes to the "Returns" desk with a grocery bag and a receipt. He hands the bag up to the lady behind the counter and tells the her that he put two packs of cookies in his mom's cart after she told him not to. It's at this point that I look beyond the desk, and a woman who I assume is his mother is standing and watching him confess this to a random market stranger. The lady behind the counter is visibly amazed and gives the boy the cash in return for the two packs of cookies and the little boy walks away with his mother.

This, to me, is excellent parenting.

So many parents out there are so passive when it comes to disciplining their kids. Most parents would have discovered the cookies and just headed home, chastising them along the way. What parents don't seem to notice or seem to care that every time they let their little bundle of joy get away with something like that, there's a shift in power. Sometimes it's minute and there's no overwhelming outward change. Sometimes the minute moments have addded up and the child becomes the controller of the relationship. 

I've seen it  on both ends of the spectrum, and tonight, when that mom made that little boy own up to his choices... I was impressed and proud of her. And I was proud of him for not throwing a fit or making a big spectacle of himself, which kids so often do.

I often worry about the future of America. With parents raising their kids with the sentiment of being "their friends" instead of their parents, I believe that there is a large percentage of kids out there being raised to think that they are in control. But tonight reminded me that there are some people out there still raising their kids to act the way they should.

Maybe there is some hope out there.