Small children in plublic places...

Bear with me for some serious moaning.
The other day I was waiting at the dry cleaners to bring in my winter coat to have it cleaned and then to store it away- in an attack of forcing spring to arrive here sooner. It was already around 1800 hours, a normal and long work day, in a reasonably friendly neighbourhood, one where you still know your clients by name.
I was  the only customer after a lady who was standing there waiting her turn. She was there with three kids, all under 10, of which two, a boy about 10, a girl about 7 were behaving like little mice: they were sitting on the bench for people who wait, very quietly and kindly talking in a low voice to each other.

The third child, a little girl, very sweet and lovely, was hanging on her stylish mother, the child perhaps around three years old. And it was hell. The little brat did not keep still for a moment, was singing, chatting, rattling away with silly remarks, moving around and getting not only on her siblings'  nerves, who became more and more quiet. It seems a diva is born. The mother, during all that running around, touching things, showing tongues to me or funny faces to the saleslady, singing loud, in short, simply being a nuisance, did not say a word.
I, old warhorse that I am by now, was watching. And on and on it went. The poor lady at the counter could hardly concentrate, the mother did not move but was deeply in union with her mobile phone, the little girl dashing around the shop and between the clothes, the two other children being quietly sitting on the bench, trying to ignore all of us.
Then they left.

I looked at the lady, who looked back at me and said: "MON DIEU! I have never seen such bad behaviour. And I have four of my own."
And I felt I had found a sister soul.

SO, how do you turn your little loved monster in a good behaved child at least in public? What it does at home is another question, worth a full post on this blog.
But in public: Mothers and fathers, grandparents, uncles and aunts of this world, do not believe that everybody thinks your children are the best, the funniest and the most beautiful. This is a privilege of us moms and dads. Normally  nobody else thinks children behaving badly so much fun.

So, what to do? Do not ignore them. Take them at the hand. Look at them and say: Enough now, there are other people here and we do not want them to be disturbed. This applies to the child jumping up and down in front of a beaming mother in the plane, the howling child at the supermarket cash table fighting for the candy there and for the toddler with his tricycle, banging into other pedestrians repeatedly.

But back to my dry cleaners: And if the child does not hear, you  always can apologise to the salesperson for leaving just a minute, and put your child in your car, where it has to wait until you have finished your business. Not always the kindest way, but a possibility to keep sane after all, for mother child and onlooker together.

Don't get me wrong. I am the first to engage with a child which smiles at me. But this is about basic manners - OF THE PARENT. You' feel much better and in control  if you take care of your children and not just ignore them as the best way to educate them.  Your child will feel much safer for knowing the boundaries and knowing that you are SEEING her/him. They need it. Believe me, it is true.