As a mother and grandmother I try to not judge other mothers or grandmothers. This is an exception. My husband and I were at a park in Austin and went to the cafe located in the park. We went in the cafe and sat at a table next to a table occupied by two young mothers and their toddler boys. One of the mothers was very attentive, and her son was very well behaved. Not so much for the other mother and child. This mother, let's call her Mary, had her son, we will call him Tim, sitting next to her in a highchair. Tim was sitting in his chair with a pacifier in his mouth while screaming and basically just being a little stinker. Mary does nothing to correct his behavior.
After a long wait for their food, and Tim disrupting the calm cafe dinning experience for all the patrons, their food arrives. The other mother at the table ordered her son a hot dog and chips. We all know that some of the top foods that are chocking hazards for kids are hot dogs, grapes, cherry tomatoes, peanut butter...... so, this mother did the right thing and cut up her son's hot dog into bite size pieces. Mary ordered Tim, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit, and she had a salad.
Tim takes his pacifier out of his mouth, lays it next to his plate and then demands something out of Mary's salad. So, what does she give him? A whole cherry tomato. Tim puts it in his mouth, whole, and then shoots it out because he doesn't like tomatoes. Which I know because as Mary is giving him the choking hazard she tells him he doesn't like them.
Tim decides to eat his fruit off his plate. What does he eat? Whole grapes! As I am watching this I am freaking out telling my husband that I am afraid Tim is going to choke. His Mom did not cut the grapes and did not pay any attention to him as he was eating them. As I am watching he puts 4 whole grapes in his mouth at one time, and was gagging as he was trying to chew them. Mary is clueless.
Now that the grapes are gone Tim decides he wants some lettuce out of Mary's salad. Does she give him a small leaf? Nope! She picks a huge leaf, puts it on the end of her index finger and literally shoves it into Tim's mouth until he gags. He cannot chew it, he is gagging until he is able to spit it out. Mary is clueless.
Tim is done with all of his fruit, did not eat any of the sandwich, thank goodness because I am sure he would have choked on the peanut butter. The waitress brings their checks and what does Mary do? She sits the check and pen right in front of Tim. Tim takes the pen and waves it around a bit and then grabs the bill. He waves it around as Mary asks him to give it to her, which he does not do. Tim then starts to wad it up. Does Mary take it from him? Nope! She lets him destroy it then takes him out of his highchair and puts him down. Off Tim runs out of the cafe door, and into the park with the check. Mary chases after him, and brings him back without the check.
Mary grabs a diaper and wipes, then takes Tim to the restroom to change his diaper. While she is gone the friend and her son are still sitting at the table. Then the strangest thing happens, a Dad sitting at a table next to them just walks over to Tim's highchair and takes it from Mary's table for his kid. He does not say a word to the mother still sitting there, he just takes the highchair and replaces it with a regular chair. Mary comes back, doesn't say a word about the missing highchair, and just puts Tim on the regular chair. Tim is now standing on the wood chair, and the waitress comes to pick up their payment when Mary asks if she can have another bill because her son destroyed it, and lost it somewhere. The waitress says she doesn't have any way to print another one (this is a very small operation) and asks Mary if maybe it was on the floor by the table or somewhere in the cafe. Mary said she thinks it is in the front of the cafe by the door, and then not thinking about Tim standing on the chair, she walks off to the front of the cafe. Tim jumps off the chair almost killing himself and takes off running. The poor Mom left at the table was trying to get Tim, and still not leave her kid alone at the table. This poor woman was so distressed, but chose her kid and hoped that Tim ran to his Mom in the front of the cafe. Mary walks back with Tim and the torn crumbled check.
The Moms pay their bills, and while doing so, Tim grabs his pacifier and sits under their table screaming. Mary tries to get him out from under the table so they can leave, and when he comes out he leaves his pacifier under the table. Mary asks him to go back and get the pacifier, and surprise, he refuses. Mary finally gets the pacifier, and carries sweet Tim under her arm out of the cafe kicking and screaming.
As I was telling this story have you been keeping track of all the bad decisions Mary made during this lunch? I am sure there are chapters in Dr Spock's books covering every one of this Mom's mistakes. And along with losing the Mother of the Year Award, Mary also lost the Friend of the Year Award. I think her friend had a very stressful lunch, and was probably very grateful that her son was such a well behaved toddler.
As for the highchair stealing Dad, what lessons was he teaching his kid? Who does that?
This was one of the most stressful lunches ever!
