Just returned home after completing a deathly slow walk to the school for an open house. My 3-year-old likes to doddle, but doesn't every preschooler? So we walked down to the school, dropped off our bag of communal school supplies, and met my 5-year-old's kindergarten teacher. Checked out the music room, visited the library and found where Daddy is on the globe, inspected the basketball hoops in the gym, and then headed back to the house. We had just turned out of the school grounds when apparently the mom (whose entourage rode bikes to the event) encountered a flat tire with one of them. Without even thinking about it for a moment, she instantly started screaming at her kid. I mean really barking at him. Oh, because I'm sure he intentionally gave himself a flat tire. We were about 10 feet behind them and other families were walking close by too. She yelled at the kid to get into the bike trailer with his sibling as she tried to continue riding her bike and pull the other beside her. Clearly this wasn't going to work. I was even going to offer to help her walk the bike... but the yelling continued. Now she was screaming at the other kids that were waiting at the top of the hill. She managed to make it up the hill with the lame bike but apparently the kids should have known not to continue riding for home, because she screamed again!!
What's the point of my story? Well first, didn't I wish we had driven to the school after having to listen to that crap the entire walk home. As if walking slower than a snail wasn't enough, now my boys had to listen to this lady ripping each of her kids a new one (and naturally they stared at her like she was an alien each time we got close). Second, we all have frustrating moments. And I certainly have had days at the end of which I felt like a mean mom as I spent most of my time scolding and reprimanding. But my goodness, could we maybe control it a little especially when out in public with other parents and kids walking nearby? It made me wonder how loud the screaming was going to be once she got home if this was the behavior when complete strangers were in close proximity. Especially since she informed the youngest child that she was going to beat the other one with his broken bike! Shouldn't this be a happy time of year with a household full of school-age children? On the verge of having their days fully occupied?
I have given myself a mom-of-the-year award for being able to maintain my composure when out in public.
You are certainly a better grown-up than me because I think I might have yelled at her to knock it off!
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