Bad Parenting

OK, I'm at a pizza place last night picking up dinner for my girlfriend and me. I'm standing in line and some 11-12 year old kids are playing around being kind of loud and rude. Whatever it's a pizza joint doesn't really matter. So, one of these kids has a super ball on a string and he's playing with it. Now I'm at the register paying for my dinner, and I something hit me hard in the back of the head, so I whip around, knowing fully knowing I'd just been smacked with the super ball in the back of my head. Well, when I turn around to say something to the kid, the mother is standing next to him. Before I could even open my mouth, this crusty old bitch says, "Well what do you expect he’s a kid."

There are very few times in my life I've been speechless and this would be one of them. I mean is she serious? I wanted to say I expect you to have some control over your kid. If I had turned around and she said "oh my gosh I'm so sorry," I would have been pissed but fine because at least she said she's sorry (for her kid). I don’t know if it was the way I was raised, but when I was a kid I would never dream of misbehaving while I was in public with either of my parents. I'm not a parent so I don’t know how my parents taught me to be like this. So long and short of the story is when I left the pizza place I don’t know if I was angrier at the kid for hitting me with the super ball or the mom for what she said.

Is it me or has parenting gone downhill?