Parenting Guru: A tale of icky store behavior

Manic Motherhood
Photo copyright MikeLav
Photo copyright MikeLav

Here on Shine we discuss parenting a lot. Many of those discussions involve the behavior of kids in public places, like stores. And truthfully, I've been in a lot of stores. And I've seen a lot of kids at their worst…and some parents too. Usually I don't say anything, because honestly, I have been there done that. My son cried in stores as a baby, screamed as a toddler and whined as an elementary school-aged child.

But what I saw yesterday really bugged me.

I was in Old Navy buying t-shirts. There was a woman wandering the store as well, with two kids that looked to be under 4. Her kids were running around with these plastic flute things, blowing into them and making a noise that would make your ears bleed. And trust me, I can ignore a lot of noise. But this was very uncomfortable.

So I got my t's, and got in line and while I was standing in the line, I noticed that the little flute things were hanging from a rack near the check stand. And then, while I'm checking out, the mom and kids got in line behind me, with the kids still "playing" their instruments.

And when the cashier rang up the mom, I heard her say, "Were you planning to buy the flutes?" And the mom said, "No." Seriously. She said "No." Her kids were running through the store for a good 20 minutes annoying every single person in there and putting their mouths on toys that she had no intention of purchasing.

Who does that? I mean, really, who does that? Who allows their children to annoy the heck out of everyone else, get spit and whatnot all over a toy and then won't buy it? That's just disgusting.

Now I don't how the story ends. I hightailed it out of the store because I was a) appalled; and b) couldn't stand the noise. But as I left, the cashier was very calmly telling the mom that she would need to pay for the toys because Old Navy could no longer sell them after her kids had used them.

So tell me, what would you have done? Do I have a right to be appalled or am I just an old fuddy-duddy with bleeding ears?

=================================================================================

Laurie Sontag is a parenting guru on Shine who thinks she's seen it all, but clearly hasn't. Read more of her work at Manic Motherhood or like her on Facebook.