So, we went to dinner tonight at a seafood restaurant we had never been to before. It was actually pretty busy and we got a table on the second floor near the bar. And it may have been a fire station at one point b/c it had 3 garage doors and all concrete block walls. So, it was loud.
Enter a family of 4: mom, dad, son approximately 4, daughter approximately 2. Begin the crying. And I'm not talking about "mom I hit my head" crying, but the incessant, no reason behind it, fake crying that makes you want to jam a butter knife into your ears just so you don't have to listen anymore.
So, what's mom's big solution? A time out in the corner. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in a packed restaurant she sticks her 2 year old crying child in the corner and walks away. Does the time out make the spawn of satan stop crying? No, she just cries harder. And why was she crying? Because she didn't want to sit in a high chair or her own seat...she wanted someone to hold her. Spoiled much?
She cried...THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE THERE. I could feel my blood pressure rising as my hands started to shake and all I could think about was how much I HATED these people. Mom finally took her outside and Paul asked if it would be wrong to clap. She bought her back in and crying resumed. You could see the murderous looks being shot in their direction and yet the parents were oblivious. They actually ordered their food (we had the same unfortunate waiter who hated them as much as we did...we know this because we discussed it when he would come back to our table).
You know what? When your kid is causing other people to HATE YOU then it's time to pack up your food and eat at home. Plus it was 8:30pm. Why are you feeding your very young children at 8:30pm? Your kids should've been fed at 6pm and already in bed. I, in fact, suggested to our waiter that he bring their food out in to go boxes and tell them, "Here's your food...to go...now go."
So, then Paul and I started contemplating what we would say to these people should we have been unlucky enough to sit next to them. My response would've been, "If you don't shut your kid up, I'm going to slit your throat with my fork." Paul's would've been, "Either take your kid outside or I'm going to beat up your husband." I also tried to figure out if there was anything on our table that I could've thrown across the 50 feet and hit them with. Or perhaps knocked their child out with so she would SHUT UP!
Just when I thought I was going to get an opportunity to say something to them as we walked out the door they got up and left before we did. And blessed silence filled the restaurant.
Paul and I are now going to write to the "Rants and Raves" section of the Valdosta Daily Times in hopes that these awful parents will read about what awful parents they are and make a different choice in the future regarding their lack of appropriate public parenting skills. Mine went something like this: To the parents at the Steamhouse restaurant last night who refused to leave when their 2 yr. old wouldn't stop crying...YOU SUCK. Take a parenting class. You ruined dinner for the entire restaurant. Just thought you should know.
Now, I know I have yet to have children and I love all my "nieces and nephews," but I am also fairly confident that NONE of my friends would subject other people to their kid's hysterical behavior in public for AN HOUR.
I guess perhaps it's good that I don't yet have children; however, I can't see my attitude on this situation changing anytime soon. Some things just require common decency. And no, I have no sympathy for poor parents who just deserve a night out to dinner. Absolutely you deserve to go out, but then you should go at an appropriate time for your child and you should teach your child how to behave in public.
There goes my babysitting jobs...
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