crying babies/kids-whats your worst(loudest) story?

[Jester]

"If you don't stop that racket, I WILL give you something to scream about."

--Jester's Dad, on more than one occasion, to Jester, The Wicked Witch of the West, and/or Jester's Little Sister, depending on which one was causing the ruckus. He said it very calmly, very clearly, and very firmly...and frankly, the three of us all knew he wasn't fucking around.

We stopped that racket.

[DesignFox]

Working at a portrait studio, I dealt with screaming kids all the time. I have a lot of patience because I understand that babies and toddlers don't really know what is going on and *some* may just be scared.
But some kids are just plain brats! The best was a two year old girl, dressed all pretty for her christmas picture. She was at least sitting on the posing table- but she refused to stop crying and screaming. So Mommy says "If you're good, I'll get you a Lolli." Girl keeps crying. Mother keeps trying to get her to calm down. No dice. Finally, Mom slaps the daughter's arm and tells her to knock it off. Kid starts crying harder (duh!). Then, she gives the kid the lollipop anyway.

This kid got simultaneously punished for making a scene, and then rewarded...
what did mommy accomplish here...?

Not to mention- the photo came out like total crap- child still tear streaked, still not smiling and now with added lollipop!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I absolutely agree with you. My dad whacked my and my sister's asses on more than one occasion in a store. Just the threat of public humiliation was eough to keep me in line.

However, when a parent does that nowdays, they get the cops called on them for child abuse by the very people who are giving them dirty looks for having a screaming kid in the first place.

Again, they can't win.

Seriously, that's all I ever hear when talking about this to other parents. "For God's sake, don't smack their ass in public. You'll get arrested/have your kids taken away/both."

I'm not looking forward to facing this dilemma when my girl gets old enough to start this foolishness. Heck, I think she's trying to start now.

[Ringtail Z28]

Out of all the crying brats I see and hear on a regular basis there is only one that stands out.

Back when I was a newbie at Target and still being trained on the register there was a little girl and her grandfather. The grandfather was practically dragging the girl behind him by one arm. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, "I want it! I want it!". She was grabbing on displays and shelves every step of the way. The grandfather would yell back at her every now and then that the were going home and to stop acting like a brat. Everyone else in the store quieted down and watched as these two were making a scene, what normally happens when people start making asses out of themselves in public. When they get to the front of the store the girl wraps her arms and legs around a rail where the carts are kept, still screaming about the toy that she wants. Me and the supervisor who was training me at the time were unfortunate enough to be at the register closest to this, we both roll our eyes and sigh almost simultaniously. The old guy finally pulls the brat off the railing and yells something at her, she then screams " YOU I WISH YOU WERE DEAD!!!" what followed was one of the most eardrum cracking smacks I've ever heard, second only to the time I saw a kid get smacked in the leg by a home run ball from Steve Garvey over twenty years ago. The stunned silence that followed was broken a split second by the girl's shrieking. Me and my supervisor actually ducked behind the register because we were laughing so hard.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

"If you don't stop that racket, I WILL give you something to scream about."

--Jester's Dad, on more than one occasion, to Jester, The Wicked Witch of the West, and/or Jester's Little Sister, depending on which one was causing the ruckus. He said it very calmly, very clearly, and very firmly...and frankly, the three of us all knew he wasn't fucking around.

We stopped that racket.

Or be taken outside . . . and outside there are NO witnesses

That was true once upon a time, but in this day and time, if a parent is seen in public raising a hand toward a child, the cops will be on them before they can get to their vehicle in the parking lot and CPS following to take the child into foster care.

It's definitely a no-win situation for today's parents.

[Pagan]

I looked around the corner and saw a deserted baby stroller with said baby, face as red as a tomato, tears streaming down its face, mouth wide open, screaming louder and louder.

About 10 feet away from the abandoned stroller were two teenaged girls (one for sure appearing VERY pregnant, and the other maybe just chubby, maybe pregnant), and two very skeezy looking guys, probably around my uncle's age (26). I wanted to throw my steel toe shoes at the retarded broads (yes, I know it's wrong to hurt a pregnant woman, but still) and tell them to attend to that baby before I call CPS on them.

And they wonder why kids get snatched! I can't tell you how many times I'll see a toddler running around by themselves. Good luck figuring out who they belong to.

However, the baby that was on the flight with us from Dublin to Newark was just a little doll! She was precious! She never fussed except for one time and that was because she was hungry. The big burly flight attendant (might actually have been an air marshal) even warmed up her bottle.

[Jester]

I absolutely agree with you. My dad whacked my and my sister's asses on more than one occasion in a store. Just the threat of public humiliation was eough to keep me in line.

Public humiliation? The thought never crossed our minds. What got us in line was total abject fear of our father's wrath if we got him angry.

That man taught me so much.

[Lackwit]

Public humiliation? The thought never crossed our minds. What got us in line was total abject fear of our father's wrath if we got him angry.

That man taught me so much.

Same thing with me and my brothers. We quickly learned to recognize the changes in Dad's coloration as his tolerance wore thin--if he got to the point of salmon, we could probably turn our collective act around, but by the time he reached fuchsia, one or all of us were detoured to the restroom or out to the car for a little corporal discipline.

We never went out much with mom, but she always went from Zero to Freakout without any intermediate stage anyhow.

[Kyree]

This might be a tad long. I have a couple instances, that I've been waiting for a thread like this to bring them up

About 5 years ago, I used to work in a tory store. I have TONS of screaming children stories, but for now I'll settle for the two that stick out the most.

1) Do you guys remember Thomas the Tank Engine? That little train show on PBS. We had a little rack of VHS tapes of that show near the register. One day this little boy(Could not have been older then 2 or 3), grabbed up one of the tapes and promptly DEMANDED his mother to buy it.

Kid: I want this, buy it!
Mother: Honey, we're getting *random person* a birthday gift. Not today.
Kid: I WANT IT! BUY IT!
Mother: I'm not buying it, put it back.
Kid: NO I'M TAKING IT! BUY IT!
Mother: *At this time she takes the video from his hand and puts it back on the shelf, telling him no again and trying to get him away, meanwhile apologizine profusely to us. Unfortunately, the rack is within reach of little children's hands, so he just picked up another.*
Kid: *Now...this is the part that made my jaw drop.* I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU WANT, I'M TAKING THIS MOVIE HOME IF YOU BUY IT OR NOT!* He repeated that a few times then started wordlessly screaming.*
The poor mother looked like she was about to break into tears herself. Since the rack of movies was light, and movable, I came over to help her out. I grabbed up the shelf and stuck it behind the register where the child couldn't get it. I asked her to tell me whatever she needed and I'd go get it so she didn't have to drag him around the store. I felt so bad for her. I could tell she was horribly embarrased and she looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and disapear. This incident made me realize that sometimes, no matter how good the parent is, the kid is just...evil.

Now...that being said. Here's incident 2.
same toy store. But this parent didn't have my sympathy. A mother and daughter(about 5 or 6) walk in. The child promptly starts running about and poking at things. The mother doesn't even bother to check where the kid runs off to. (Luckily, the store I worked in was a small, almost mom and pop sized toy store.) I shrug and continue working. Not like that scene is anything new.

I'm cleaning up, the mother is talking to my coworker about something...and suddenly *CRASH!* I wince, run over to see what happened. The little girl had climbed the shelf to try and get to the (Expensive, very expensive) decorative doll houses that are on display. She knocked over a shelf full of accessories for them. I run over, make sure the kid is okay, she's fine. A couple of the doll-house dogs were squished, but nothing too bad. I bring said child back to her mother.

Mother: Oh, did *kids name* make that noise? Sorry.
Me: Yeah, she's all right, but I was hoping she could stay up here with you.
Mother: Oh, well...she has ADHD, so I don't think she'll stay up here. Can you watch her for me?
Me: ( ) Um...no I can't ma'am.
Mother: Why not? You work here.
Me: *Twitch.* (My coworker is trying not to laugh. Ironically, the discussion we were having right before this woman came in had something to do with me hating watching other people's children.) Becuase ma'am, my nametag says "Kyree, Toy-Seller." Not "Day-care." It's not my job to watch your daughter, I'm sorry.

Oh..and at this point, the daughter ran off to go climb more shelves. The mother huffed at me and turned back to her business. Thank GOD they left a few minutes later.

3) This didn't happen to me, but I heard about it on the news and it made me raise an eyebrow. in my area, a man opened up an icecream shop. Just one of those small ones. It had really good ice cream too. There was a sign on the door. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was to the extent of this. "Children are welcome, but I ask them to behave like grown-ups. If they scream or throw tantrums in the store, they need to leave." The community got all up in arms about "Not being able to bring their kids" to the shop.

Personally...I don't see a problem with what the man did. It's his store, he shouldn't have to deal with children screaming in there if he doesn't want to, right?
(And...done finally! sorry for the really long post.)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I saw that in the news, too, and thought he had every right to post that sign. I can't imagine why anyone would have a problem with it. I imagine the people who did have a problem recognized that they were guilty of contributing to the problem and didn't want to have to be grownups to their children themselves.

Screw 'em.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Probably the parents are ignoring a screaming kid because NOT ignoring them teaches them that that's the best way to get attention.

However, the kid is still getting attention; from all the people pointing at him/her, muttering things, and possibly talking straight to him/her. Doesn't matter if it's from strangers rather than from Mum and Dad, it still counts as attention. A better thing to do would be to remove the child from the store, or even to just take them temporarily to the toilet or car in order to tell them that either they shut up or else.

Probably can't be done nowadays, but my parents used to take us to the car and leave us there to scream. No attention, either from strangers or from parents, and afterwards, no treat while your siblings got one. Worked every time and soon enough we all learned not to do it.

[Kyree]

yeah...my parents did stuff like that to me, I even got spanked. And you know what? It wasn't abuse, and I turned out fine. But nowdays you can't do that...and nowdays I'd be scared to leave a kid outside by themself. =/

[Lace Neil Singer]

We were locked in the car, so we were perfectly safe... just bored.

[Kyree]

Ahhh. Yeah. It seems you can't punish kids in any way other then talking to them without getting child services called. And people wonder why they end up on Nanny 911 or something

[Dreamstalker]

One of my late grandfathers was ex-Secret Service/former MA state trooper, and the other was ex-Air Force. I could get away with some silliness with my mom's dad (the state trooper) and he rarely admonished me as I wouuld snap to by myself, but my dad's dad (ex-Air Force) put up with no shit whatsoever and I learned that quick.

This didn't happen to me, but I heard about it on the news and it made me raise an eyebrow. in my area, a man opened up an icecream shop. Just one of those small ones. It had really good ice cream too. There was a sign on the door. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was to the extent of this. "Children are welcome, but I ask them to behave like grown-ups. If they scream or throw tantrums in the store, they need to leave." The community got all up in arms about "Not being able to bring their kids" to the shop.

That's crazy. Seems to me that all the parents that complained would be the sort to allow screaming tantrums and when called on it snap "How DARE you tell my angel what to do!"

The sign's clear enough to me: kids are perfectly welcome as long as they behave themselves. I don't see anything that says "Absolutely no children allowed"