1. It's not wordy
2. The pictures are beautiful
3. Said pictures are of animals
4. It's about going to sleep
Like I say, only people without kids get kids wordy books and toys with sound. Anywho, if you'd like to track down your own copy, it's "How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight?" by Varsha Bajaj. Long way around a short story, I went to the library and it seems some other family is on to how good the book is and snatched the only copy! When I mentioned just going to buy a copy to the clerk, she sent me to another library they share privileges with. And it's actually closer to my house. And they have two copies.
Done and done, and I'm back in the car with the Google maps up, and I go to walk into the other library. And then, the sound. OBNOXIOUS KID CRY.
A lady is standing at the self-checkout, with a stack of books, pretending like she doesn't hear the kid crying 2 feet from her, when I'm actually surprised I didn't hear it in the parking lot. And she's got two other kids with her, who are pretending they don't hear it either.
Hey, I get it. Admittedly, before I had a kid, I wondered why these women (and some men) couldn't just shut the kid up. And why the "we ignore bad behavior" routine was subjected on all of us. I mean, I didn't invite people to visit while Britton was crying it out, so why should I have to hear these screeches? But, now that I have a kid, I don't understand any better than I did before. I don't want to hear my kid scream. I certainly don't want to hear your kid scream. But I no longer give the parent the death stare, so I'm growing!
Britton in hot water....with no screaming....blue coloring courtesy of Aunt Jessica's fab Christmas gift....
Why wouldn't you even try to get the kid to be quiet? I can't grasp this at all - why not even try? Give your kid the candy, the iPhone, the snacks - whatever it is the kid wants that you aren't giving it. Or hey, here's a thought - leave. Because we weren't in Wal-Mart. WE WERE IN A LIBRARY.
Maybe I should have been like the nice old lady library volunteer, who went over to the kid and distracted him enough that he quit screaming (after 20 minutes). Maybe that would have been a nice thing to do - heck, I KNOW it would have been a nice thing to do. I could have looked at the mom, standing there with her three sons under the age of five, with her stack of kid library books, and thought that she needed my help more than my judgment.
But I didn't. Instead I thought back to the time Britton threw a righteous fit in the quilt store, and I scooped her butt up and carried her straight out the car so no one would be inconvenienced (except me). I thought about me going grocery shopping on Friday nights so I don't have to drag Britton down every aisle on Saturday morning, seeing as toddlers aren't known for their patience skills. I thought about how this woman needed to look into preschool or Mommy's Day Out or something to where she wouldn't take three small kids into the library and then be completely incompetent when one starts doing an impersonation of a cat being flogged.
This isn't a "why are women each other's greatest enemies when we should be each other's greatest assets?" rant. Heck, I know I would have had the same thoughts if it was dad instead of mom standing there. It's about a little parenting forethought. Or at least a recognition that it's happening and an increase in the speed of checking out your 100 books. And really, it is about judging, because maybe if we stop being so worried about hurting anyone's feelings, we can judge a little and LEARN from others' mistakes.
And maybe one day become the kind of person who volunteers at a library, with the special gift of shutting up the screaming babies.
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