I finally told a stranger their kid was not a genius just loud

Happened at the library last Tuesday. Kid was screaming while the mom smiled and said he's expressing himself. I just said sometimes kids need to learn quiet spaces exist. She looked at me like I cursed her out. Has anyone else had that backfire?

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2 Comments

ben2062mo ago

Jumped right into that one, didn't you? It's like some parents think any noise their kid makes is a sign of future genius, not just a lack of manners. I had a similar thing at a coffee shop where a kid was running around screaming while the mom just watched and smiled. I told her it might be a good idea to teach him about indoor voices, and she snapped that he's "just energetic and curious." Yeah, curious about knocking over someone's latte, that's for sure. I get that kids are loud sometimes, but letting them run wild in a quiet space isn't helping them learn boundaries, it's just teaching them the world revolves around them. You did the right thing, even if she didn't take it well.

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samwalker2mo ago

Called my kid's name and walked out the door last time this happened at a pizza place. He was losing it over not getting pepperoni, and I just looked at him, said "we're leaving now," and walked. He figured out real quick that acting up meant we left. @ben206, that mom in the coffee shop sounds like she's avoiding the hard part of parenting, which is actually following through. Kids don't learn boundaries from us talking. They learn from us doing something. My kid hasn't pulled that stunt since because he knows I'll actually leave him with an empty plate.

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