Cecilie1200
Diamond Member
As you all may know, my littlest guy - Quinn - is two years old. Any parent knows that sometimes, toddlers just wake up on the wrong side of the crib, with the whole world on their shit list, and fully prepared to let everyone know about it . . . at the top of their lungs. Yesterday was that day for Quinn.
Unfortunately, that didn't excuse me from still having to do errands and haul him along with me.
Now personally, I just grit my teeth and thank God that Quinn is the happiest baby on Earth, and as such, only has bad-mood days once every three or four months. Every parent worth his/her salt knows that the only effective way to deal with a tantrum is to ignore it. If you give the kid attention - or worse, try to bribe them into cheering up - you're just rewarding the bad behavior and encouraging the child to believe that is the way to get what he wants.
But Quinn was not NEARLY as annoying as the people around us. At what point did people decide that it's acceptable to walk up to a complete stranger and interfere with the way they deal with their children (barring obvious physical abuse or such)? I realize that it's a nuisance to have to listen to a hollering child in a grocery store, and believe me, I wouldn't have been there if we hadn't been in desperate need of milk. But you know what? It's a public place, full of other people, and other people are often annoying. Suck it up. Do whatcha gotta do and move on. Don't make things worse by deciding it's your job to try to quiet the kid, or by expecting me to encourage his behavior just for your short-term convenience.
I seriously had to border on being rude to utter strangers who walked right up to my cart and started trying to shush Quinn or offer him candy or toys to be quiet. Are these people nuts? I don't know you from Adam, lady. Get the hell away from my kid before I call a cop.
In this Ritalin-soaked world, have we really become so unable to understand and accept that it's natural for kids to just be pains in the ass sometimes?
Unfortunately, that didn't excuse me from still having to do errands and haul him along with me.
Now personally, I just grit my teeth and thank God that Quinn is the happiest baby on Earth, and as such, only has bad-mood days once every three or four months. Every parent worth his/her salt knows that the only effective way to deal with a tantrum is to ignore it. If you give the kid attention - or worse, try to bribe them into cheering up - you're just rewarding the bad behavior and encouraging the child to believe that is the way to get what he wants.
But Quinn was not NEARLY as annoying as the people around us. At what point did people decide that it's acceptable to walk up to a complete stranger and interfere with the way they deal with their children (barring obvious physical abuse or such)? I realize that it's a nuisance to have to listen to a hollering child in a grocery store, and believe me, I wouldn't have been there if we hadn't been in desperate need of milk. But you know what? It's a public place, full of other people, and other people are often annoying. Suck it up. Do whatcha gotta do and move on. Don't make things worse by deciding it's your job to try to quiet the kid, or by expecting me to encourage his behavior just for your short-term convenience.
I seriously had to border on being rude to utter strangers who walked right up to my cart and started trying to shush Quinn or offer him candy or toys to be quiet. Are these people nuts? I don't know you from Adam, lady. Get the hell away from my kid before I call a cop.
In this Ritalin-soaked world, have we really become so unable to understand and accept that it's natural for kids to just be pains in the ass sometimes?