Standing in line at the grocery checkout today, for some odd reason I decided to let my son out of his stroller. I thought he needed to be on his feet for a moment. Bad move. A few minutes later I had to put him in the stroller again in order to pay and take care of the groceries. He let out a short shriek as soon as I seated him in the stroller--not the blood-curdling scream he will emit if he's really upset, but a scream nonetheless. I crouched down and touched his cheek and said in a low voice, "Oh, that's not a voice we want to use inside, is it?"
"Oh, god," I heard someone groan behind me. I didn't look at the person--I was perhaps too irritated at that moment.
I'm not sure if the man was talking about my son's scream, or my response--or even if it had anything to do with me. But I suspect that it was related to the screaming as well as my gentle response to it. My son could pass for two, two and a half; the man probably thought, "Why is this woman coddling her son when he just let out an ear-piercing shriek?"
Maybe a few years ago, my own eyes would have rolled; I'm not sure. It's probably hard for people without kids to understand why you don't severely reprimand a fifteen-month-old who seems to be behaving badly in public.
On the other hand--it could be time for me to act more swiftly and decisively if the kid starts screaming on a regular basis in a public place. He hasn't done that so far, thank goodness. For one thing--I rarely take him shopping these days, except for extremely quick trips in and out, ten minutes tops.
"Rather than saying no all the time, change the circumstances so the 'no' situation just doesn't arise," my doctor advised me. My own experience with my son has shown me that with children between the ages of one and and one and a half, this advice completely makes sense.
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