Wonderful Parenting Skills

Went to the grocery store today, had to stop at customer service counter to get money orders.  This is actually a normal routine for me.  I usually go with the expectation that I will be there waiting in line for a long time, or waiting for all of the money orders to be printed out .... as slow as possible.  Surprisingly, my kids were handling the wait pretty well this time.

The woman in front of me was totally not watching her kid, and it was fairly obvious she hadn't of even glanced back within the last 10 minutes (as shown by the mess created).  This is more of a pet peeve of mine.  I know it seems dramatic, but even if your child is within spitting distance...all it takes is 5 seconds for a pedophile to snatch your kid.  All it takes is 5 seconds for your kid to fall out of the cart.  You get the jist, watch your kids.

Sometimes I am over-protective with my own children, but I learned from my own experiences.  I'm not nearly this overprotective when we are at the park.  I calmly sit on a bench and watch them.  I ALWAYS make sure to keep an eye on them in stores or in public venues.  In stores, I make sure the cart (with them in or on it) is in front of my direct line of sight.  This stops messes, knocking things off of shelves, breaking things, trying to kill each other...etc.

Anyways, this little girl was barely 2 years old and standing straight up in the bottom part of the buggy.  You could tell there was barely any room in the cart for her.  Soda boxes were all around her, and she really had nowhere to sit down (too many groceries in the bottom).  All it would take is one wobble and she'd face plant the floor.  I'm unsure as to why the mother didn't just put her in the top part of the buggy (you know the place where children SIT), as there was plenty of room there.

There was this little girl, munching on an entire bag of rice patties.  She was holding the bag, grabbing one out, and then chomping on it.  This is pretty normal behavior for a kid, and a main reason I don't give my kids an entire bag of ANYTHING.  Most of it goes to waste on the floor that way.  Some of it was getting into her mouth, and most of it was sliding down her chin to land on the floor around the cart.  Crumbs were everywhere by the time I showed up, so who knows how long this woman had been at the counter before I got there.  Most of it was this soppy wet mess on the floor.

So, after about 10-15 minutes of her trying to get a refund for the rice patties her daughter was currently eating (I'm really not kidding)...she finally turns back to her daughter and notices the MASSIVE mess.  The "mother" doesn't even flinch at the mess.  I was appalled.  I understand kids make messes, but THIS much in public?  Uh.  No.  Not gonna happen.  If it does mysteriously happen, I'll clean it up and stop the mess before it gets worse.

The "mother" picks up the biggest, soggiest piece off the ground (which really didn't help much at all) and hands it to the poor guy behind the counter.  I mean hand, as in puts it in his hand while she says "here".  EW!!!!  He threw it out and didn't say anything.  I felt SOO bad for him!  Not only does he probably have to clean up the mess on the floor, but he also was HANDED this soggy piece of food.

To make matters worse, she reaches over to her purse and grabs a used diaper (I could smell it).  She handed that to the poor guy and tells him to "throw that out too".  "I'm sure you have a trash can back there." UGH.  It wasn't even wrapped in a plastic bag or anything.  Just this wet, nasty diaper!  I mean, the bathroom was right THERE.  If you're going to change your kid, at least throw it out yourself.  There are TONS of trashcans all over the place.

In the end, I think she allowed her child to make a mess and acting like a disgusting person just because she couldn't get a refund on something her child was eating in front of his face.  They don't offer refunds for items that have already been consumed.  Wonderful entitlement attitude.