Tell me your experinces with crying babies and toddlers. They seem to be everywhere! I saw one in the airport yesterday as I was coming back from Mexico. He was** really** angry. He didn’t say anything like what he wanted. He just stood there crying and yelling all around the baggage claim. I don’t know why. Why is it that they’re always in airports? I mean you never see a kid screaming at a movie theater or even the Pottery Barn. It seems that they always want something, candy, a toy, whatever, and then the see some other kid who has what they want. Then they just go ballistic.Mommycanihavethattoypleasemommyiwantitrealbadmommymommymommyimgonnascreamandkickandyelluntiligetitmommy!!!
If you’ve never seen/heard a screaming child in a movie theater you are a lucky soul. Screaming kids in theaters is the number one reason I no longer go to movie theaters.
I don’t have children. I have never wanted children. I don’t usually enjoy the company of very small children. That said - I understand that babies and small children cry. It is a fact of life. If you have babies or small children, I am very happy for you. However, my happiness doesn’t extend to enjoying the shrieks and wails they emit. If you are in a public place (such as a theater, or nice resturant - I’m not talking about McD’s here)and your child decides to it is time for some lung exercise, please either attempt to quieten your child or remove your child from the area. It does not contribute to my enjoyment to hear screaming and wailing, and I have paid to be here.
Small children often don’t have the attention span for hockey. There are exceptions to this - I know some toddlers who know more team statistics than I do, but they are exceptions. There are going to be loud noises at hockey games. People will cheer, boo, and sometimes use strong language. If you are sitting close to the glass there will be the sharp crack of the puck hitting the glass or the loud thud of bodies hitting the boards. This is likely to frighten a lot of babies and small children. Please leave them at home. If your little one gets bored and starts climbing over the seats he is likely to get hurt. Don’t glare at me when I catch your child before the seat he is trying to climb over folds up and breaks his leg.
Thanks. I feel much better.
The ones that astound me most are those who just tune it out. I was appalled to see a woman shopping casually, paying no attention as the fruit of her loins was just screaming its ass off at full power.
Being confined and bored for hours at a time is not normal for toddlers. Actually, I don’t think anyone enjoys waiting on interminable lines, being touched by strangers, and sitting in a cramped, vaguely noisy space with nothing to do. Todllers just aren’t as good as adults and holding in their rage at the world.
And for the record, I have witnessed many grown adults (myself included) melt down at airports.
Not a toddler, but I would say a boy of about 5 or 6.
I was taking an evening class a few blocks away, had some time to kill, and decided to pop into the grocery store nearby to pick up a quick sandwich and Coke. IIRC, it was a Friday night and the place was packed: every checkout line extending back into the aisles. As I went to the deli I could vaguely hear this kid. When I got to the checkouts, his plight became clear. He wanted to go to McDonald’s. The misery he emoted at his mother’s apparent decision that it was not to be was unbelievable. “PLEASE MOM I WAAAANT TO GOOO TO MCDOOOOOONAAAAAALDDDSSSS!!! WHY CAAAANN’T WE GOOO RIIIGGGHHHHTTTT NOOWWWW??? I WAAAANNNNNT MCDOOONNAAAALLLLDDDDDSS!!!” Repeat ad nauseam, clear as a bell all over the checkout area. I happened to make eye contact with the woman behind me and said, “I don’t think that’s the way to get to McDonald’s,” and she smiled. I mean, his act was so over the top it was actually sort of comical. A minute or two later I caught a glimpse of the kid with lungs – unfortunately from the back; his face must have been purple by then. He was with two women and what I guess was an older sister, all of whom were calmly ignoring him and continuing on their merry way out of the store.
Sure, she probably should have been trying to calm him or take him outside, but perhaps she’d already tried that and had just gone into “The answer is no” mode. And the store was already pretty noisy with all the shoppers, so he wasn’t really disruptive per se; it was just that his voice really stood out. I really felt for her. But I still thought, good on her for showing him that his histrionics weren’t going to get him anywhere. (And I was glad that he wasn’t going home with ME. 
)
On a recent flight from Albuquerque to Minneapolis (about two and a half hours) with not just one, but FIVE children of screaming/crying age. It was a very, very long flight. I feel bad bitching about it on planes, especially when they’re babies, because there’s really not that much a parent can do for an infant. But I was seriously contemplating homicide by the end.
Then as I was passing time in Minneapolis, I saw a mother with her son, who was maybe four or five. They were browsing in a shop, he apparently decided he wanted something that mom wasn’t going to buy, so it was tantrum time. Kicking-and-screaming, red-in-the-face, all-out tantrum.
I wanted to give the mother an award, though. Rather than yell at him, or ignore him, or hit him, she grabbed his wrist, and told him: they weren’t going to buy anything, it had been a very long day, so they were going to go and find someplace quiet to sit down and have a bite to eat and some rest.
An hour later (I had a five hour layover, ugh), I saw them boarding the plane at the gate where I was leaving. She was now carrying him, and he looked downright angelic there.
I have the pleasure of having one of those screamers. I believe it’s her favorite sport. She screams for no apparent reason any time of the day or night. I think she just likes the sound. And she loves to see the collective cringe from the rest of the family. Yes I’ve learned to tune it out to a certain degree, but she actually screams quite a bit less when we’re out because she’s too busy grabbing at everything. She doesn’t throw tantrums–yet. I’m not sure how I’ll deal with that.
I imagine a lot of those screaming tantrum throwers are just tired but they may also be used to the scream working, which is why many times you will see the parent “ignoring” it with the hope that the child will learn that it doesn’t work. If you just give them what they want they figure out quick that screaming works for them. Unfortunately the rest of the world has a harder time ignoring it.
Nice user name, The Spirit of Radio!
Well I would scream my head off in airports except that (1) I’m socialized and (2) the TSA would take me down…
The sad thing is that they just will not let you ship those kids by Fed Ex, or even in a box with plenty of holes and a good water supply.
We’ve diligently avoided taking the twins to anything involving paid admission, except for Go, Diego, Go Live! On! Stage! (which wasn’t half bad, actually) (we don’t get out much).
Even so, there have been some hairy moments. There was the night they went berserko at our favorite Chinese buffet - and they’re restaurant veterans, they’ve been out to eat dozens of times. Fortunately the place was nearly empty, except for another frazzled family.
Just the other day they got wild on me at the grocery store, pushing those mini-carts.
But I still think if the old geezer with the loaf of bread had been paying more attention, he wouldn’t have had to jump so far.
I really feel bad for parents who have to fly with babies - and I feel so sorry for the babies! My ears hurt, so I know their ears hurt, and at least I know why and that it will stop. I have never been rude to a parent with a crying baby on a plane - but oh boy have I sometimes wished I could go sit on the wing for a while!
I when we moved back to Georgia from Hawaii, I had to ship my cats in the luggage compartment. This did not make me happy. There was a very young baby on the flight who was also not happy - and she announced this to everyone on the plane from Honolulu to Dallas/Fort Worth. As I said above - I don’t have kids and am not used to crying babies at all, so my nerves were raw by the time we got to D/FW.
We had to change planes in D/FW, and knowing D$&5@ Airlines track record with luggage, I wanted to make sure my cats were put on the correct plane. No one in “customer service” was in the least interested in helping me with my concerns. As I mentioned, my nerves were already raw - and I was concerned because I was shipping two kittens really too young to be shipped. (The alternatives were to either leave the mother and kittens in Hawaii or have the kittens put to sleep.) I am slightly ashamed to admit that after about half an hour of fruitless requests for help I started to get rude. And loud. I finally told one desk clerk that if I didn’t get some assistance I was going to do exactly what the baby I had been sitting behind for the last several hours had done - I was going to start crying. I was going to sit down on the floor in front of her desk and cry. A passing flight attendant took pity on me and checked on my cats.
First of all, I loved having babies and toddlers. I got em at 6 months and 4.5 months ( adpoted ), and when they arrived, their vocal chords were in faaaaaabulous working order. Did we take them to the finest restaurants? We did not. We took them with us to places where others also would sometimes bring toddlers, and if they became unglued, we’d walk them out for a while. Never had to abandon a meal totally.
My rights on the planet do not include deciding where a family may or may not appear in public to do their thing. After many years of flying, I finally had it happen. I’d gotten three hours of sleep, crawled to LAX, crawled onto my flight and wanted to sleep all the way East. I had a mom with 18 month old on her lap, agains the window next to me. He screamed almost nonstop for the first few hours, kicking and thrashing against me quite a bit. I folded my arms and closed my eyes. Eventually he fell asleep.
It wasn’t pleasant but it’s life, you know? We were babies, we raise babies, they are a big part of life around this planet. Becoming enraged or defensive or self-righteous is the right of anyone but I don’t truck with that and discourage it in those I know.
I am NOT one to let a kid run roughshod, nor am I one to demand that my angry / tired/ tantrummy kid should control a situation such as a restaurant or movie theatre. That attitude is also b.s. IMHO. You show respect for those around you as best as you can, but also don’t hide out or refuse to take a child out in public. You learn to have a balance, and the kid learns how to be a human in public.
My two cents.
Hilarity N Suze, you might want to look into a Pelican 1650 case. They’re large and strong. You could easily pad an infant with a water drip bottle and oxygen.
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Cartooniverse
Cartooniverse - you pretty much stated what I was trying to say. I don’t get upset with crying children - they are children! I do sometimes get upset with parents who are so used to hearing their children scream that they really don’t seem to hear it. They just let the children scream, and I am not used to hearing it!
I also agree that children have to learn how to be social human beings, and they have to go out in public to learn how to behave in public. But if they start acting out in a nice resturant, take them out! Or pay for my dinner! 
Agree for the most part. I don’t get upset with the crying toddlers. I do get upset with the selfish parents who refuse to acknowledge that their children may be disturbing others. Most people are not complete jerks and have some tolerance but in places like R rated movies, fine dining establishments and the like, please take the babes outside after a while. It really is the decent thing to do.
I don’t expect my occasional foray into a fast food joint to be quiet. I do expect that when my SO and I go out to dinner at a higher end restaurant that our meal for the most part will be relaxing and peaceful. One night at a seafood place, (not a chain) a child was shrieking for a good 10-15 minutes. Finally, the staff said something to the offenders. In that case I blame the staff too because it is their responsibility to take care of the problem if the parents are not.
OTOH, I absolutely love to see well behaved children out and about. Sadly, it’s becoming a rarity.
It’s really sad that I’m a little jealous of you. Just a little.
My biggest pet peeve is parents that let their young children cry/chatter/run during church when the building has a perfectly good crying room, with piped-in sound and big glass windows to watch the service. If there were no crying room, I can understand why you have to bring your restless toddler into the main church, but parents, if there is a crying room, is there any reason not to use it? I mean, if your kid is too young to sit quietly through a service, then certainly they’re not going to miss out by having to sit in a little room in back. One of the churches I go to now has what looks to me like a very nice room, with a door to an outdoor courtyard and everything. A few weeks ago one couple sat in the main room instead and let their kid stand on the pew and yabber through the whole homily. Perhaps I’m heartless but I thought that was unnecessary.
Yep. Turnabout is fair play, but that concept seems lost on my generation of parents. ( I’m 44 years young, dammit. ). I spent a whollatta time walking one kid or the other in the hallways or lobby or whatnot so that a movie audience or restaurant crowd wouldn’t have to hear them do their kid thing. It’s MY responsibility to do that and even though the sound of someone else’s kid crying or ranting as that poor kid on the airplane did doesn’t anger me or upset me I sure as heck would have appreciated some snoozing space. -shrug- We’re at 38,000 feet. One adjusts.
We are, after all, the adults.
We used to judge whether or not a restaurant was child-friendly by it’s drinking glasses. Fine cut lead crystal? Probably not. Polycarbonate? Yeah. 
Sometimes, with toddlers, ignoring their tantrum seems the logical way to let them know that misbehavior will not get them the attention they are craving. But not when you are in the mall or another public place, and the tantrum goes on for 45 minutes.
What really bothers me is the moms I see with a screaming infant in a stroller or carrier, who totally ignore the wee one who is screaming from hunger, or wetness, or overstimulation. It’s been twenty years since I last breastfed a baby, but I still can feel that let-down reflex a bit when I hear that hungry cry, and it really makes me cringe! And then to have this mother standing outside my store, not making one single effort to calm or soothe her infant because she is too busy trying to sign up for cell phone service…well, it’s almost intolerable! And it happens at least twice a week! An infant isn’t a whiny toddler who wants you to buy them something. Sometimes I just want to rip off any store-identifying insignia I have on, put on my coat and purse and go out in the mall as if I were a customer and ask these moms what they hell they are thinking that they don’t even TRY to determine why the baby is screaming…they don’t even acknowledge that it is happening! Perhaps they have been raised to believe that responding to a crying baby just spoils them, but it drives me crazy to see them ignore a tiny infant in distress! Especially when people today seems so quick and eager to stuff a pacifier in a child’s mouth…these moms don’t even try to do that!
All I can say is that I’m really not looking forward to visiting my parents this summer with their new 10-month-old grandson. He handles being out in public pretty well, but the longest we’ve been out with him is 2-3 hours at a time; the trip from Tokyo to Boston is about 24 hours door-to-door.
Both of my kids did this ONCE.
I remember when my son did it. We were grocery shopping and he wanted something (don’t recall what) we could not afford it, so we said no. He started to throw a lay on the ground kicking and screaming hissy fit.
I picked him up, and took him out to the car, and buckled him in his car seat. I told him that he could throw a fit, but I was not going to let him disturb all the other shoppers. I sat in the front, reading a book. After about 10 minutes he quited down, and asked if we could go inside. I asked him if he was ready to act like a little gentleman. He replied yes.
We went back inside, and he was fine. Never did that stunt again.
My youngest, thank goodness, is 11, so I don’t need the Pelican…or did you mean for me?