In a cupcake shop with a very long line, I instructed my children to sit down at an empty table while I waited and ordered so they won’t cut in line in front of other people. My 3 year old son sat himself down at someone else’s table and was about to dig in to their cupcake, so I did what any alert parent would do, I told him to stop and I said it in a voice louder than a whisper.
With that, an older gentleman – the only person in the store not accompanied by a child – started yelling at me. Apparently, I was too loud when I instructed my child not to eat someone else’s food from across the room.
ME: “Would you prefer I allow my child to misbehave?”
HIM: “Couldn’t you do it more quietly?”
ME: “Not if I wanted him to hear me.”
HIM: “Well, it’s rude to be that loud in a restaurant”
ME: “It’s also rude to criticize a parent when they are trying to keep their child from misbehaving in public.”
HIM: “Perhaps you shouldn’t bring your child out in public.”
ME: “We’re in a cupcake store and it’s filled with children.”
When I returned to the line, half the waiting women noted that they would have done the same thing since it was after all a cupcake shop full of children and not a 5-star restaurant. The general mom consensus seems to be that library voices are appropriate for the library, but if your kid is misbehaving in a kid friendly local, it’s okay to discipline in a voice louder than a whisper? Have you ever had a similar situation? How did you handle it?
One Comment
I never find loud discipline makes me uncomfortable just derogatory discipline some people are sound sensitive they should not go where children are if they can’t take it I think you handled it graceful clearly that one had a stick up his but for the day