I'm with you on this. It seems like the days of people taking a screaming child out of a store, restaurant, or even movie theatre are long gone. I can be patient on a flight, where mom and dad don’t have many options, but what is this new culture that seems to think I should just deal with their baby crying? We now live in a culture where people take babies to horror movies, and think nothing about it if their crying child is ruining the experience for other people.
Well ... two problems with this woman trying to resolve the sceams of her baby.
1) The kid wasn't throwing a temper tantrum and instead was reacting to the sudden shift in air pressure from the descent of the air plane. (I personally never suffer from the shift going up, and instead I always suffer from the shift going down. Same with the one time I went skydiving --no problem with my ears when the plane went up to 5,000 feet. But dear God! When I was floating downward!!
)
2) When the plane is descending, you MUST be in your seat with the seat belt fastened.
As far as kids who are allowed to scream and throw tantrums, yeah I agree.
Meanwhile, I was nannying in Long Island about 9 years ago and my little charge (4-yr-old girl) was being very disobedient while she and I were at Blockbuster trying to pick out a movie for her for the weekend. I finally said, "That's enough. You've picked out one video, and now we need to go." She screamed "NO!" at me. I said "Okay, then, no videos at all." I put the video back on the shelf, took her by the hand, and I started to march her toward the door But she screamed and yanked to get free of my grip. Then she took hold of the front chekcout counter and was holding on with both hands, screaming and kicking "No! I want videos! I want videos!" Two customers stood back mortified at this spectacle, and the teenager behind the counter didn't know what to make of it. I said to her as I picked her up by her waist,"Little girls who scream and kick their feet don't get videos." Once she was in my arms, she flailed around like a 45 pound blue marlin I had just reeeld in,and I pried her hands off of the counter. I walked out the door with her thrashing around like that. She cried in the car as I buckled her in. She was no longer thrashoing because hs eknew she had been physcially besyted by me and couldn't overpower me and run back into the store, so her defiance was devolving into sorrow. I said nothing to her tears at first. I got in the driver's seat without saying a word, and she was pleading for the videos. I started driving. She moaned and moaned in defeat "I want videos! I want videos!" I repeated to her that being naughty won't get her videos. And I also said "I don't even know if we'll ever be allowed back into Blockbuster again after your temper tantrum." And THAT scared her. She said she was sorry. So when I got her home I gave her a kiss and said we'd have to ask permissionn to go back ever again. "But maybe they'll say no."
Next day, we drove back and I walked her to the counter and the same teenager was there at the register. He of cource recognized us. I said to him "Alexandra has something she needs to say." She started crying and she almost shrieked out her apology: "I'm sorry I was naughty yesterday!" And then I saked him "Can we come back in the store now?" He nodded and said "Okay. You can come back in." And she said to him in total heartfelt tears "THANK YOU!" And then she hugged my legs and cried some more.
Then we picked out the videos and she was a perfect little lady about the whole affair. And she smiled and waved good-bye to the kid at the counter as we checked out and left.
I never had another problem with her in a public place again.
