Wednesday, June 25, 2008

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Nothing is more interesting to little children than even littler children. Especially babies. Especially crying babies.
Today at the library N started crying during Toddler Aerobics. I was already holding S so I couldn't swoop in and pick up N as well. In no time there was a handful of toddlers hovering around our double stroller like gawkers at an accident. Toddler aerobics was forgotten.
"The baby's crying," said one child who was old enough to talk.
Pre-talkers simply pointed at N which got the message across just fine. The message being - "this baby is crying, somebody do something quick!"
The response of other parents to crying babies is just the opposite. A few brave souls, those who aren't dealing with their own crying offspring, offer to help, but most figure the best way to help is to ignore the situation completely. This isn't cruel, it's an attempt to appear casual. To make the parent of the offender feel that their child's crying isn't causing a complete disruption at all - why it's barely noticeable.
Barely noticeable to parents perhaps, but their kids sure aren't about to let you get away with it.

song: While My Guitar Gently Weeps • artist: The Beatles

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