In which mine and others' eardrums are shattered.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Today, I encountered a parent who is never going to be nominated for mother of the year. -.- Her daughter was shrieking at the top of her voice; no, not hungry, tired or hurt screams, just "I like the sound of my own voice" screams. Instead of telling her daughter to be quiet and/or shushing her, the mother keeps smiling indulgently at her daughter, occasionaly saying, "See if you can shout even louder!" What. The. Fudge. When your child is behaving antisocially in a supermarket, you do NOT encourage them! Jeez.

[phoenix_rising]

I think she was trying reverse psychology, thinking if her daughter didn't get the bad reaction she wanted, she'd shutup. But it only ends in the mom looking like a horrible parent. You should have told her to shush her child for the sake of other customers.

[MadMike]

Wow, I had to check to see if I posted that, because the exact same thing happened to me at my old job roughly 20 years ago, except that it was a little boy instead of a girl. I guess he grew up, moved across the sea, got married, and had noisy kids of his own.

[iviles]

What ever happend to leaving the store????!!!! Most of my friends do that when thier kids are screaming like that...only diffrence is they dont whoop u in the car like my mom did. Lol needless to say my sister and I didnt act up again till we paid rent lol

[PepperElf]

but... parents who let their kids screaaaamMMMM in stores need to leave.

a normal crying baby is... well it's normal. they eat, they poop, they cry. big woop. we'll get over it.

what's crappy is when they're at the stage that they think it's funny to see how people react. when they think "ow, stop it" means "that's funny, do it again" bleh.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Wow, I had to check to see if I posted that, because the exact same thing happened to me at my old job roughly 20 years ago, except that it was a little boy instead of a girl. I guess he grew up, moved across the sea, got married, and had noisy kids of his own.

And obviously there's an Oedipus Syndrome thing going on here, as he married someone just like his mum. O_o

[Cyphr]

nothing wrong with a lil oedipus suyndrome just finding yourself in the same situation as oedipus is a bad thing.

[mariamousie1]

Um, what? That's insane. Maybe she was mad at the store or something?

[zzapp the witch]

I don't wait till the car to whoop mine, I try to set a good example to other parents right in the middle of the store.

[blas]

I don't understand what would make a parent think it's a good idea to encourage the child to scream louder and louder?!

[princess4life]

I don't understand what would make a parent think it's a good idea to encourage the child to scream louder and louder?!

I have to admit I have done that to my kids BUT not in public. When we are at home or in the car and they scream and throw a fit I have been known to say "Scream a little louder I can't hear you yet" They scream louder I say they same thing again and then they shut up because they are not getting the reaction they wanted. However while in public they will be taken directly to the car and banned from shopping with Mom for (insert period of time) which means sitting in the car with Dad or at home with Dad.

My sister got upset at me one time because we where shopping together she walked away and left her kids with me they had been acting up the entire time and only got worse when she walked to the bathroom. They where screaming, grabbing stuff off shelves, pushing buttons on machines, and laying spread eagle in the middle of the aisle pretty much every SC kids you read about, and they are 9 and 10 years old. I turned and yelled at them telling them they where old enough to know better and then told my kids to stay away from them if there cousins couldn't behave. My sister came back her kid cried to her and she decided it was time for her to leave.

[crazylegs]

I don't understand what would make a parent think it's a good idea to encourage the child to scream louder and louder?!

Maybe they're hoping their vocal cords will tear? Who knows? Its always the kids with the excutiationly annoying screams and wails that scream. Grrrr!

[gunsage]

Oh the possibilities...

"Ma'am, you're going to need to do something about your little one or we'll have to contact the police for noise violation."

"Funny, I thought this was the responsible parent and non-screaming children section."

"Lady, I can make YOU scream much louder than that if you don't cut it out."

[RetailActress]

"Madam [or, Sir,] please SILENCE THE CHILD."

This command must be carried out with a sense of perfectly-secure authority for it to become immediately effective.

You're welcome,

R.A.

[Primer]

Maybe they're hoping their vocal cords will tear?

Quite possibly. I've been known to holler at vehicles with their (C)rap cranked up, to crank it up even louder in hopes that their speakers would blow.