Frontega Chicken with a Brat on the side

So, Shamus and I take off to go to Panera's now & again since we don't work together anymore. It's a good chance to have this amazing Frontega ChickenPanini they make, and fill him in on who is "moving on to pursue other opportunities", which happens all too often at my employer. (B.Y. is one of the best managers I ever had and I have great respect for him. My company is so stupid. Do you hear me? :::shakes fist:::: STUPID!!)

Today we lunched and as we were chatting I'm watching this three or four year old girl squirming around on a high barstool sort of chair, sort of half standing on the chair and then scootching her foot around under her fanny to sit down again. I was getting queasy wondering what sound her noggin will make when she tips the chair over and her head hits the floor. Problem one - her mother wasn't even sitting at the table with her; she was at the next one over, with Friend/Sister, Little Boy in HighChair, and Friend's child.

The mother seemed sort of flustered and I didn't really understand how she was eating her own meal. She was more or less standing up frequently to help the little girl, but almost immediately the LBIHC would demand that she sit down again. He looked to be about two. She would plead with him that "Honey I have to help (Little Girl) eat her lunch." Problem two. Do not whimper to your child that you need to do something, just because he doesn't want you to do it. I do not want to hear you whining and begging your two year old to allow you to do something. Who is the parent here?

Problem three started when Mom had to go back to the ladies' room (for a good cry, probably) and left everyone else behind. LBIHC started a "Oh no, you can't leave meeeeeeeeeeee" sort of tantrum. He accelerated pretty quickly, so I'm sure this is something he's experienced in.

Friend picked him up and was cuddling him and basically kissing his butt to try to convince him to stop the floor show. I looked at Shamus and said "If that were EITHER one of my kids and I left them with my sister, she would not tolerate that crap for a millisecond. She would look them square in the eyes, and point her finger at them and say "Knock that off, I don't want to listen to it, your mother will be right back. Give her a minute's peace to go to the bathroom and be quiet."

So he of course started laughing at me and said "You're going to blog this, aren't you?" and you're damn right I am! Why are so many people afraid to see their children cry? Learn that you won't get what you want all of the time, kiddo, because YOU WON'T. Now, understand that I don't want to see a child crying in pain or fear. I will be the first to comfort them if that's the cause, but if they are just torqued about not getting their own way, that's too bad. Shaddup!!

My son tried the "throw myself on the floor and have a tantrum to get what I want" once and I laughed at him and walked out of the room. Rinse, repeat, ...he caught on pretty quickly that he would be getting NOWHERE with that tactic.

Let them know who's in charge!! Don't interrupt my lunch!!!

PS. Shamus, I have no idea what that note means - how can you run a process against an empty file? You doofus.