Here we are- Jack is having a screaming fit in the middle of walmart- we’re talking full meltdown, no tears, pure rage. And I am absolutely mortified.
What if someone asks me why my child is screaming at the top of his lungs?
Will they believe my answer? “He wanted out of the cart so I took him out of the cart and now he’s hitting his head on the floor screaming bloody murder?”
It defies logic.
But instead: I got no questions, I got no comments, what I did get was looks of sympathy and most importantly: silence.
I didn’t need help, I didn’t need advice, I needed to pretend like I was very serenely shopping with my screaming toddler. Nothing to see here folks!
I spend a lot of my time worrying about how I make others feel. I am always concerned that I will make others anxious with my parenting style, and so it made me feel empowered to just let my kid scream in Walmart.
SO, if you ever see a poor struggling mom, with a screaming kid in a store, give them the greatest gift of all: your understanding. They might be mortified, they might be fine, they also might be a second away from screaming themselves.
Please 🙏 just don’t judge them for choosing to deal with it in their own way.
MurrayMom 
I’m curious…how would you have felt if someone had told (without sarcasm) you that you were doing a good job as a mom at that point in time? Would you have felt reassured? Patronized? Would it have been a welcome comment?
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I would have smiled and said thank you! It’s a nice and encouraging thing to say.
But personally- I would have been embarrassed that someone felt the need to make me feel better. In my head it would be like “oh I must have seemed desperate if they felt like they needed to say something”
– this is a 100% my anxiety and has nothing to do with the kind gesture of saying something nice.
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