What is this world coming to when Jay and I keep agreeing?
Natalie has thrown a fit once. Period. Only once in public. It was over wanting something and she was at an age (3) when she knew that this was not appropriate. She knew what she was doing. She was making a scene to get her way. So her and I left the store. Partially full cart of groceries left behind - I told the people working that I was sorry on my way out.

And the nice high school boy, gave me a smile and told me not to worry about it, he'd take care of the cart.

It was a hassle to go back later and do the shopping, but I won't have it. I won't have my child act like that. And the thing is, I could have avoided it. It was past her nap, she was tired and cranky, and I was trying to squeeze in one last errand. It was my fault and so I took control of the situation.

I think that's why she's only done it once. I make sure she is well fed. She's had plenty of sleep. She eats good food so her sugar levels aren't all out of whack. That and I try to shop alone and leave her at home with daddy. She's 6 now. The fit stage is over, but the whining stage is in full swing.

^^^gets it^^^

My mom would have done the same thing.

(***DISCLAIMER*** although my 'gets it' was just an opinion, and as I have no children, please place the amount of weight you give to my opinion accordingly)

^^^ Gets it!!!


<--- startled at the ally in this though



And while granted, I do not have kids, my brother and his wife being a firefighter and EMT respectively, have screwy schedules, so it is not unusual that we have my nephew overnight once or twice a week.

So yes, we have to take him to daycare, bring him into the office with us for a few moments, and often run errands with him around. Fortunately there are two of us, so often he is left at home with one or the other when there are errands and running around to do, and we generally do not go out to dinner with him. We have on more than one occassion left a restaurant either before we ordered, or had our food wrapped up as soon as it was finished because kid dude decuided to act up, so home we go.

We do that, because we get it and are being concious of the others around us.

I agree...whenver Kinadee acted up we would take her to the bathroom and talk to her and give her one chance to straighten up. If she didn't...we left. No questions asked. If she was supposed to get something, like a toy or something that she was excited about, she didn't get it.

I hope everyone without children opining here on how they should be handled has the pleasure of later raising them, and getting opinions from others who have never raised their own on the proper way to do so.

For the record, as I've said, I don't think you would complain about my kids' behavior - we were complimented on their behavior just yesterday by a waitress, actually. (And that was after they had to ride for hours in the vehicle; I can now recite most of a few Blues Clues videos verbatim.) But I wouldn't begin to presume to tell a parent of a disabled child how to raise them, having not dealt with those challenges myself. Maybe that's just me.

So how about the people with children who are opining, such as Liver Lips.

Or are you ignoring her opinion and statements because you don't agree with them?

I don't have any problem with her strategy, and if she wanted to encourage other parents to follow it, that's fine, too.

But if a person without kids has the same opinion, it's not given as much 'weight' because they are childless?

Dude, no you aren't given as much weight. I gained 70 pounds when I was preggers with the little bear.

I'm a parent and I totally agree with QCL. It seems these days that a lot of parents want to be their child's 'friend' instead of parent. My sister does that - and used to allow her daughter to scream in restaurants. I would let her know that other people didn't want to hear the little angel screaming. That fell on deaf ears.

Also - if my husband and I are in a restaurant and see a child behaving well, we will often compliment the parent(s). I've done it on numerous occasions and hope it brighten's their day a little. I remember seeing a family of 4 or 5 kids in Cracker Barrel one day for breakfast and they were all polite and quiet. I'm sure the mother was a tad frazzled, but she appreciated the comments.

what part of "illogical" don't you understand?

D'OH!

When our kids were little, we would often get compliments on how well behaved they were in public. On other occasions when they were not well behaved (yes, it does happen), we never had anyone say they were obnoxious. Of course, we always took whatever action was needed to calm them down or remove them from the situation.

I guess, all I'm trying to say, is I didn't think my kids were little angels in public just because someone complimented, because I knew there were other times that if people really said what was on their minds, it would not be complimentary.

As I said earlier, the kids who act up in public don't usually bother me. They are just kids. What does bother me, however, is how parents react to addressing (or not addressing) the situation.

And like Jay and I said to begin with:

I guess I am not quite sure what the guy did wrong?

He gave fair warning and all...

The parent was not addressing the situation.

Nevertheless, it is the parents exclusive responsibility and nobody else should be allowed to take matters into their own hands just because they don't like the way the parents are handling (or not handling) the situation. This goober was way out of line and he should pay a price for his stupidity.

The child in the article was two. Sometimes ignoring a two year old's tantrum teaches them more than reacting to it or beating them with wooden kitchen utensils.

When my daughter was two she threw a full up tantrum in church because she wanted to leave. We ignored her and after the longest minute of my life the tantrum was over and she didn't do it again. If I would have grabbed her and ran out what do you think she would have done the next week when she wanted to leave?

I agree, it's a complete traveshamockery!

::makes note to stop buying smokes for 7 year old daughter::

what about the booze though?

I'm not insane, of course I'll buy booze.

Good for you. I wonder how the few dozen to couple of hundred (not sure how large your church is) appreciated having to sit through your lession making while they tried to listen to the pastor/priest/what have you as they took time from their busy weeks/lives/family time to worship. I am sure the pastor also appreciated competing with your daughter for the congregations attention.

a childless person opining on child-rearing techniques is akin to a man opining on a womans cycle...

are you makin' fun of the handle bars and basket???

women's cycles don't have those bars that go across and crush your jimmies when trying to get air in your driveway on a wooden ramp

Catholic, and our priest was a wise one. A few years back, a child was crying and throwing a fit, and the preist asked the parents of the offending child to stand with the child. When they did, crying child and all, the priest asked how many of the parishoners knew the family, and most raised their hands. He then asked how many of the parishoners were irritated by the crying child. Again, most of the hands stayed up. The priest then explained that this child was also a child of God, as were all in attendance, and that this child had every right to express her unhappiness while in the Lord's House, because if you can't bring your unhappiness to the Lord, then who can you bring it to? You can only imagine how small those people must have felt to get dressed down by Father Herb, subtle as it was.

No one has a definitive way of raising a child/children. We do the best we can and hope they don't turn out crazy.