The patter of little feet

The NY Times had an article last week about rowdy children in cafes. Today, at lunch, we had a similar experience when two children, between the ages of 5 and 7, were running around like no one's business, banging on the piano, climbing on the railings, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. I get that kids will be kids, but what drove me nuts were the parents sitting back, eating their lunch, and every now and then, making a half-hearted effort to rein their children in.

At one point, the kids were banging on the piano about a foot and a half behind me and when the parents -- who were looking right at me -- didn't do anything, I turned around and told them to stop. I don't like disciplining other people's kids (unless I'm the babysitter, which isn't something I've done in a long time), but this seemed to be extenuating circumstances. I got a dirty look from one of the people in the parents' party, but I didn't care. The kids could have hurt themselves on that railing or even on the piano (I pinched my thumb trying to close the cover), plus it was a buffet-style restaurant, so the kids running around made for an unintended obstacle course diners would have to navigate.

When I expressed my annoyance to my uncle, he said with a knowing smile, "We'll see what happens when you have kids." That's always the thing that sticks in the back of my mind -- I don't have kids, so maybe my impression of the "sit in your seat and eat otherwise we're leaving" attitude is way off base. I don't think I was wrong to be seriously annoyed though.