I am torn between joining the cheering chorus and saying: "Why do we need to celebrate a parent being responsible?" Even if the boy would have been fidgety, ranting would have been the wrong approach for the control of need for movement does develop somewhere between the fourth and the seventh year...that's why it is also senseless to punish pre-schoolers who cannot sit quietly in a chair. (They would after execise that is adequate for them, which again is highly individual.) We adults "simply" need to be considerate of whether children do something out of bad intent (which, by the way, is almost impossible before the reach the age of four for lack of mental capacity) or if it are accidents. You then do not even need the speech the father gave – we need to be good role models. Want your children to be clean? Do not leave your trash. Of course, this needs to be differentiated, but I guess you get my point.

bp became a pretty clickbaiting thing...

And she just happens to remember every single word huh.... Amazing.

How I admire the father's calmness and patience. It's actually not easy in this kind of situation. This normally happens if you go out with your kids... I try to be patient and ask the help of the friendly staff or waiter to clean everything up. But I've seen parents who scold their kids out in the public because of spilling their drinks. I scold my daughter to but I try very hard not to do it in front of other people. I was once a child and I know how embarrassing it is in that situation..

I think people are missing the morale of the story here. I have coworkers that don't accept responsibility for mistakes they make and leave others to clean up their mess.

Great story

This dad obviously knew a thing or two about children psychology. I really like meeting people like him because I'm 15, neither an adult, nor a child and sometimes I feel dreadful when adults shout at me (I'm really good at creating awful messes). Fortunately, most adults I know are a lot like this dad. They are also good at explaining the reasons for these accidents! My best friend's dad reckons we are so accident-prone because we are teens and teens grow up extremely quickly... So, how on Earth do we know how long our limbs have become up to this date? :D

At least the dad wasn't the low end white trash ghetto type to tell the kid that someone else will clean it up and walk out.

Are there more at home like him, but single?

Am i the only one that wonders why it is so great that the dad didn t get mad? Who gets mad at a kid if he spills something by accident?

I love this story!

I love this

People are saying how she could remember word for word...I read it one time and I can remember what was said......

This is a f*****g non-issue. This is when you ran out of ideas about something to write about, and then ran out of ideas after that.

Isn't that how everyone reacts? It's not that things get broken, it's that the lesson is learned to try and avoid things getting broken. Accidents happen, if it's squabbling with your sister then perhaps you need to focus on those issues and not letting those arguments cause things to get broken. That was always the way I took with my girls as they were growing up. I only got angry when they tried to cover things up and not take responsibilty for their actions.

My mother would have just whooped my a*s

Also.... I'm pretty sure she shared this story because the moment meant something for her, as she is raising a son approaching that same age... We tend to notice things in people that mirror things in our own lives.

Leave the campsite better than you found it.

Maybe if as adults we cut ourselves a little more slack, we'd be more inclined to do so with our kids. People make mistakes, big people AND little people. And unless you've misplaced the cure for cancer, it's really not the end of the world. I was at a Home Goods recently when a little girl (probably around 10) turned around too quickly and knocked something off an end shelf, where it shattered on the floor. She immediately started crying and profusely apologizing to her mother. Her mom was obviously embarrassed, but trying to be cool. Even though the employees told her it was okay & that accidents happen, the kid was absolutely distraught and kept apologizing to HER MOTHER. It kind of made me wonder: what goes on in their family that it would be so bad if she had an accident or made a mistake? I tried to give her the "it's okay" look, but I don't think she even noticed. Poor kid.

How is this amazing? It's a parent teaching their kid to clean up which is what should be always happening and I'm sure does alot all over.

Whether or not the poster remembered "verbatim" what the dad said to the boy, I'm sure it was more than "s**t happens, don't sweat it." Maybe it's OK to celebrate a parent who calmly turned a sloppy disaster into a teaching moment instead of screaming his head off - which I've witnessed too many times. And as for the selfie of her and her kid - if I were that gorgeous I'd plaster pix of myself everywhere, too. And the kid is a cutie!

Nice!

Maybe don't take slush puppies into the shop?

As long as somebody gets her own face online, right?

This article is amazingly sexist and full of dad shaming. It pre-supposes that men are incapable of being equals when it comes to parenting. We see it all the time. Saying a parent, the dad, should be given an award for the most simple of acts is patronizing at best and condescending at worst.