Friday, November 9, 2007

Mall playland

This morning, Noah and I went with Dave on the search for a new pair of brown shoes. Noah did a great job at the mall, so when we hit the Sears side, we decided I would sit with him at the play area while Dave shopped the last few stores. The 20-30 minutes I was there were memorable. First, I had some lady get in my face and ask me if I wanted an Avon book. I politely said "no thanks" which she seemed completely taken aback that I would have the audacity to say no to such an offer when I was confronted in the middle of a play area and she was blocking the view of my kid. Seriously lady.
Then, another mom comes in with a little girl around Noah's age. Mind you there are some older children playing now (4-6 years). Clearly, the little girl was not very interested in the play area. However, the mom sat her down in the center of the floor where she was promptly bumped into by the running pack of children that were racing around. Of course, the girl started crying and the mom swoops into rescue her while yelling at the children. She then gets this look of complete anger, and stalks out of the area. It wasn't the seeking resitution that bothered me...it was how she stalked out of the play area like she couldn't believe that such ruffians would be allowed to play there. Listen lady, if you are willing to subject your child to the bowels of the play area, you might have to deal with the likes of bigger children with no manners. Not to say that you shouldn't protect your child and seek restitution if necessary...but come on...you know what you walked into.
Finally, this was my favorite one. After this incident, one of the older boys does end up getting in trouble for running the girl down. His mom makes him sit down in a corner where he proceeds to throw the biggest whiniest fit I have seen in awhile. I, personally, laughed...thankful that it wasn't my own kid at that moment. There was another mom sitting looking at the whole scenario with this completely open look of disgust and disdain...for the full duration of this experience...which lasted a few minutes. This woman's face was priceless...as if she had never seen a tantrum before and couldn't believe that this mom was allowing such a thing to happen in public. I am sitting across the way, covering my mouth, trying not to laugh...at her! Sure, the boy was a little old to have a tantrum...but as a parent, I have learned that children have a mind of their own and sometimes they don't always do what we have trained them to do. The disgusted woman didn't even try to school her features...she just sat there with her perfect little child clinging to her side and just watched with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. If only I had a hidden camera in Noah's juice cup to catch the moment. It made me think of all the expressions I have most assuredly received without noticing when Noah acts out in public. If this lady's expression was any indication, I'm glad for my indifference. Parenting is hard lady.

2 comments:

The Rock Star said...

Well, I am amused. Thanks! Being a people watcher myself and laughing out loud more than a few times at said people, I am looking forward to the days when I get to do so at play areas. They seem like great people watching venues. :)

Ann said...

Yeah, Henry's tantrums now are much worse than they ever were at two or three...probably because he never really had them before! Big kids running around and tantrums are the course of the day around here :)