Childfree Abby - Truth Hurts26 January 2007Message ID: 12rkke9d1oivj6c@news.supernews.com
Dear Amy: If you can handle one more letter regarding how to handle noisy, rambunctious children at a nearby restaurant table, please read on. I take my children out to dinner with some frequency (they know how to behave). When there are children at a nearby table who are not behaving appropriately, I make sure to compliment my children loudly enough for the other adults to hear, "Boys, I'm so proud of the way that you're behaving. If you were acting like those children over there, I'd be so embarrassed. We'd have to leave!" The other parents usually fall silent for a moment, then start whispering feverishly to the kids regarding their behavior. -- Michele in Baldwin, N.Y. Dear Michele: You don't seem to realize how rude your own behavior is. When you loudly make comments that are clearly intended for other people, you demonstrate just the sort of brattiness that you abhor. Praising your children is necessary and commendable (so many of us forget to do that). But doing so in a way that is designed to embarrass someone else makes me think that you need to grow up.
Dear Amy, With the utmost respect, put a sock in it. I am one of the legions of people whose quiet enjoyment of a meal in a public place has been ruined by hellions who shriek, bang on the table and run in the aisles endangering both themselves and the wait-staff, while their parents chatter on, oblivious to the havoc around them. That being the case, allow me to state that subtlety is lost on these people and in most other cases, politeness as well. If these people are embarrassed by hearing the simple truth that their children are behaving like baboons, then so be it; they have no one to blame but themselves. Since Michelle took the time to instill manners and good behaviour in her children, there is no reason why she, or anyone else for that matter, should have to endure the inevitable result of those who have not. On behalf of the rest of us, Michelle, I thank you.
Childfree Abby
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