Gah. I hate parents like this. They give the rest of us a bad name. As I've mentioned before, we're pretty hyper-conscious of our son's behavior in public, and take great pains to be sure he's not disturbing anyone else.

OTOH, I've had to deal with people who are intolerant of children in ANY public space. A few years ago I had a woman start yelling "Shut up! Shut up!" at my 18-month-old son from three checkout lines down at the grocery store because he had the audacity to be tired and cranky and started to cry as I was paying for my groceries. I just smiled at her and said "have a nice day." Sometimes you just have to get stuff done and don't have the option to leave the kid at home.

I always complliment parents with well-behaved children. I'm always so grateful. Again, sometimes you encounter parents with cranky children when you're out in the world. Shit happens. When shit is allowed to fly with abandon, that's when I start speaking up.

When my son Tyrone was about a year old, my ex and I found ourselves in one of those binds--we really needed to just go to a restaurant (tired, cranky), but we had an equally tired, cranky one year-old with us. Our solution? The coffee shop at the bowling alley! Surely we would be within the polite decibel range in such environs.... well, we were, until Tyro braced his pudgy little legs against the lip of the formica table and kicked it over, spraying icewater and frenchfries in a 20 foot radius. That was our last restaurant visit for several years. I simply arranged my life otherwise for that period of time when restaurant going was more work than pleasure. I found that staying home was a great way to avoid stress--for me and the other 10 million inhabitants of LA.

I'm curious as to why the guy and the girl on the left are smiling for the camera while the woman on the right is about to give you the bird.

Do you ever just complain to the management? Just wondering if it ever works.

deja- 18 months is too tiny a kid to stifle anyway (right?), and nobody comes to the grocery line for the vibes anyway. Hillary- God bless you for your sacrifice... Those of us who eat out too much appreciate it

Yeah, at 18 months the Id is pretty much still running the show, especially when it's getting near naptime.

We actually started taking our son to restaurants about once a week from the time he was a baby. We enjoy a meal out, and wanted to "train" him from the start so that a regular part of our lives would also be a regular part of his. On the one or two occasions where he misbehaved, we'd pack up and leave immediately, after paying the bill of course. The lesson was quickly learned. We still always make sure though, that we a) go someplace where it's appropriate to bring kids (which doesn't mean places with clowns or where everything is deep fried...we've found that Thai and other ethnic restaurants are often very welcoming to kids), b) make sure ahead of time that there will be items on the menu he will eat, c) bring along some of his favorite books to keep him entertained and d) we don't linger over coffee--there's about a one hour window before he starts getting restless. We really enjoy our weekly family dinner out. When hubby and I want to have a grownup meal in a nice place that includes multiple courses, we get a babysitter.

The woman on the left seemed sort of lobotomized the whole time. She never stopped smiling no matter what expletives the other woman was using or how vicious she got.

My boyfriend just suggested that I merchandize Advice Goddess muzzles. That's a thought.

The management in a lot of places doesn't want to get involved.

Deja and Hillary are my kind of parents.

:::applause:::

Grocery store, car wash, Chuck 'E Cheese - I expect screaming kids. The movie theater (minus rated "G" movies), a restaurant, a bar (you laugh, but it's happened!) I do not.

I love how *you're* the bad guy for asking her to be more considerate? Egads.

Wow. Advice Goddess muzzles? I bet Lena Cuisina's got a market for you...(!)

"When I finally said something to them, they were aghast."

What exactly did you say?

"It's very disturbing that you allow your children to scream like that." But, remember, I only said that because I'm lonely, unhappy, and frighteningly ugly.

Once I was in a family-friendly restaurant and saw the most amazing thing. A couple brought with them a sort of high chair dropcloth that caught all the mess their well-behaved toddler made. When finished they folded it up and took it with them. These people made me expect the same consideration from other parents, and from myself.
I think part of the problem is that often thoughtful people like Amy, who would contribute valuable members to society, are wise enough to know they either aren't suited for parenthood, or have the sense to have only the 1 or 2 they can actually support well, while the obnoxious idiots of the world often produce 5 or 6 scary little clones.

Hillary the more I think of your bowling alley coffee house story the more I like it.

And I never, ever, flip anybody off!

Advice Goddess muzzles

you are ugly though. I mean really ugly.

Ooh, look, I believe we've met Ms. Finger's husband, just above. I saw them at Starbucks this weekend, told her she'd made my blog, and asked her if I should come over and sing Hari Krishna songs next to her or maybe read loudly from the paper. She told me I was "still disagreeable." The woman next to me asked what "that" was about, and when I told her, she thanked me for being one of those who spoke up "because some of us are too bashful to do it." --Amy Alkon, Loud Hag Of Your Peace And Quiet

PS What's really funny is how these people keep bringing it back to me, never addressing the real issue: that it's rude to let your loud brats scream in public places. Of course, that's indefensible, so they'd rather talk about how ugly I am!

Stop trying to steal my life you dyed red haired unfunny bitch

Will you be my celebrity stalker?