Shut your damn kid up.

[marty]

I know every single person who's ever worked retail or restaurant duty has run into the woman with the screaming baby. And not just crying, this baby is wailing like someone's stabbing it in the leg, and the parent either completely ignores it or babbles to it absently while continuing to shop/eat.

I had one today, and you know what the mother was saying to it?

"Say mamma, come on say mamma, say mamma say mamma!"

Because that six month old child is going to stop its crying and say mamma just to make you happy. This kid is obviously pissed off, change its diaper, shove a bottle in its mouth, something. The guy I was ringing up at the counter said, "That's really, really annoying." and suggested I tell her to leave if she couldn't calm her kid down.

Luckily she left before I had to do that, but really...come on...shut your damn kid up.

[blas]

That just reminded me I forgot an element to my Ultimate Saturday Suck thread...

At Wal-Mart last night, I was in the pain reliever aisle getting Excedrine, and a guy pushing a cart with possibly the most annoying child ever in it comes my way, and the kid is wailing over and over "I wanna call MOOOOOMMMY! I wanna call MOMMMMMMY! I WANNNA CALL MOMMMMMMY! MOMMMMMMY! MOMMMMMY! I WANT MOMMMMMMY NOOOOOOOW!" and the guy totally ignored the kid and just kept shopping.

I picked a bottle and got away as fast as I could.

[staticradio]

various sizes in stock!

two words: child muzzle

oh, how I hate the children who scream for the sake of screaming. I just wanted to smack the parent about the head with a wet noodle. "AAH! AAH! AHH! AHH!" SHUT THE F*** UP! Whatever high-frequency hearing I had is damaged by your incessant screaming. If you're in any actual distress - then cry, otherwise please be quiet. Better yet, smack your parent for not teaching you a shread of being ethical (or make the nit happy, and state 'mommy' just to shut her up).

(stepping off soapbox)

[Ree]

Babies cry.

It's not like they have an unlimited vocabulary to tell people what's wrong with them.

Yeah it's annoying, but is it really worth the hostility?

I am currently going through my own sleepless nights because of a crying baby at my house. My daughter and our new baby granddaughter live with us.
There are times when she cries, and we just can't figure out what's wrong. We change her. We feed her. We burp her. She isn't colicky, but sometimes, nothing helps, and she still cries.

My daughter and I went to dinner the other night at the restaurant where my husband works. Her baby started to cry. I felt really bad for her because she knew there would be people who would sit in critical judgement of her parenting skills if the baby cried for too long.
Luckily, there was enough noise in the place already, and she didn't cry for a long time.

There are some braindead parents who tune out a crying baby, I know, but sometimes, it's out of necessity, especially if the baby has been colicky.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I think there's a big difference between a baby who's crying from being sick or colicky and a baby who's just out-and-out screaming. Dealing with the triplets, I've learned that if there's just a few little "Wahhh" noises that it's probably nothing to look at, but when they start shrieking, you'd better come running.

It's my thinking that if a baby is SCREAMING like that, there's something more wrong than just colic or hunger or dirty diapers or boredom. And if they're doing that, maybe you ought to get them home and make sure things are okay.

I realize that sometimes, you have to shop right then and sometimes you can't make it stop, but those are the rare occurances. The annoyance isn't really with the children, everyone knows that babies don't know not to scream-it's more with the people who are obviously taking no steps to hurry and finish what they're doing or are just out and out ignoring their baby being in some sort of bad way.

I don't think it's any different than when I start having troubles in public, even as a grown adult, and my mom has to send me out to the car or take me home because I'm freaking out over the people or something. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and bail out. I don't think it's any different with a baby who's freaking out in an extreme way.

[Ree]

True, but to someone who really doesn't like babies all that much, and is bothered by the mere presence of them, a little cry can seem like a shriek to them.

Some people just can't tolerate the cries of a baby.

It's one thing to understand that there's obviously something wrong with a baby crying that hard, and another to hear the normal cries of a baby and demand that the parent shut that kid's yap before it drives them insane.

Sometimes, a parent really is trying to calm the baby, but it can't be done, and, yes, sometimes they do have important errands to run so leaving is jut not an option at that point.

I still say there's no reason for the hostility shown to the child who is just doing the only thing he can to let his needs be known, even if it's annoying to listen to. If it's a true case of parental ignorance, then direct the hostility where it truly belongs.

[CancelMyService]

I know people like to defend the parents of screaming babies when threads like these pop up, but lets be honest, in my non-scientific research it seems that at least 90% of the time the parent is not only not trying to quiet the child but actively ignoring him/her. Either that or they think having a shrieking child in a public place is a perfectly normal and acceptible thing and anyone upset about it must just hate children.

I think everyone knows babies cry, and even yell/scream/shriek, and that it's their only method of communication. The thing is, and most people with retail experience have firsthand knowledge of this, that people just tune out the sound of their own kids after a while. Doesn't (usually) mean they're neglectful parents or anything, but it's quite self important of someone to expect the rest of the world to tune out their screaming child just because they do.

[Nakajo]

This reminds me of something I saw while working.

Usually, we understand that kids cry and fuss, and we're such a large store and the noise is already so immense we just tune it out. One day though, a kid was throwing a fit in the food court. The mom was trying to calm her down. Another member sitting there with her friend, with their whole pizza and their posteriors taking up the whole 2 person benches, eventually SCREAMED, "SHUT YOUR DAMN KID UP".
Her friend started clapping for her, and then eventually stopped when she realized that everyone sitting around them was staring at them like they were freaks. The mom yelled back, "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS," and everyone around her laughed. They left on their scooters rather quickly.

It was humorous watching this from my counter.

I agree that crying babies are annoying in many ways, and that we all wish we could react like that, but in the end, it makes you the SC.

[iradney]

If a baby is just going "Waah" once or twice, I couldn't care less. But if they're howling at the top of their lungs, their little fists clenched, their chubby faces red, then there must be something wrong. I don't know much about kids, but surely babies cry like that when there's something wrong?

[ForestDragon]

Sometimes when a baby is crying for no readily apparent reason - I mean, it's fed, dry/clean and warm and all that - I wonder if it's possible that the kid might have a headache. It's not something that you can see, and the kid isn't old enough to tell you where it hurts. Sometimes headaches appear in adults for no reason, maybe babies get them too. Just a theory with absolutely no corroboration, mind you.

That said, screaming babies and squalling kids drive me bugshit and I try to get away from them as quickly as possible. I can start feeling homicidal when I'm trapped with that noise - such as on a bus - and the parent isn't doing jack to stop it. At least make an effort, f'chrissakes...

[Bagga]

Sadly, the something wrong can include the baby thinking:

"Goddammit LISTEN to me when I am screaming at you."

or

*MOD EDIT - Removed potentially controversial political reference

Not everything that a baby cries about is curable by parents, and sometimes ignoring the child IS the cure. A child's only influence on the world is Behavioural Psychology, training the parent to respond appropriately to the child's needs by the use of sound stimuli - and the only way for the parent to keep control is to ignore the screams.

BUT, that is the parent's battle to fight, and parents should be aware of the effect the noise has on others. If a child starts to scream, throw tantrums, whatever, the child should be removed from the presence of others who may be dismayed by that behaviour. Funnily enough, for me that often used to cure the behaviour anyway, as often my sons would actually be screaming because:

"I don't like it here. It smells/the lights are too bright/it's noisy/that other kid over there really CREEPS ME OUT!"

[draggar]

There is a HUGE difference between a crying baby (infant / toddler) and a whiny little brat who knows better and just shouts "I want chocolate" or "Buy me a new toy".

Yes, babies cry (young ones and old ones). I've seen parents take their baby out to quiet it down so they don't bother other people while other parents completely ignore the little brats who know better.

[Canarr]

It's actually funny when you see small kids - two, three, four years old - running around, playing, then suddenly fall to the ground. More often than not, they'll sit up, bewildered, then look around to see if mommy/daddy are watching. If there's nobody looking, they'll just get up and carry on with their playing like nothing happened. If parents or siblings are nearby, they'll spontaneously burst into tears.

Gets me every time.

[InsanityInc]

Crying babies are one thing. As mentioned several times by other people, they can't help it, it's their only way to communicate. Children that are older however.... Grrr. When my daughter tries to pull the screaming thing, she gets one "indoor voice" reminder. Then we're out of there. The only time I didn't remove her from a store was when we were at the shop or don't eat point. Parents who just let their older child scream, throw a fit, etc., I have to agree, shut the kid up!!

[XCashier]

There is a HUGE difference between a crying baby (infant / toddler) and a whiny little brat who knows better and just shouts "I want chocolate" or "Buy me a new toy".

Or scream just for the sheer hell of it. Now, I expect an infant to cry, that's the only way they communicate. But a 3-5 year old child who just banshee-screeches at Volume Eleven, just to hear the sound of their own voice, that's not right.

Especially when they're close enough to you to shriek right into your ear...!