When is Action Needed?

Have you ever felt like you should speak into a situation, but also think ‘someone else’ should be taking care of it?

I know in Canada we have a certain amount of con-confrontation, verging on complacency in our society. We’re known to be peacekeepers outside of our country, but what about right in our local restaurant?

On Saturday we made the final loan payment on our car! Yippy!! So we decided to eat out to celebrate. We choose a place that is a pub style family eatery. Children are not uncommon, but not the majority. Hubby and I are childless, but tolerant of kids for the most part.

However ….. Saturday night tested all our limits of tolerance and ability to sit back and watch poor parenting. And I might add – this seemed to be the consensus to the other tables surrounding us.

When we arrived, there was a table of 3 women and 4 children just at the tail end of their meal. The restaurants crayons, colouring sheets, and balloons aplenty on display as being well used by the four children (all under the age of 10). As the ladies continued to chat, the children began to get restless, and louder. And louder, and more restless, and busier, and louder, and more active, and more busier, and farther from the table …… and you get the picture.

The ladies ….. were oblivious, and never once in the 90 minutes after finishing the meal did a single word of correction come from a single woman’s mouth.

Now – I understand the need for a little parental downtime, but if your child (or children) is getting up and standing on balustrades, and beating the other children over the head with their balloon – don’t you think that might warrant a word of warning? When the children are running all over the restaurant, and literally tripping up the wait staff and other patrons – would that not be a super time to step up and use some supposed to parenting skills …. ?

To my surprise and dismay the women didn’t bat an eye. Not one iota of conscientiousness crossed their features.

Even as a child stood on a chair – at their table – and proceeded to feed 4 balloons and their string into and around the revolving fan above the table – to which it came to a complete stop – nary an eyelash flickered recognition of the need to stop a child – any child.

Nor, might I add – did the manager come over and advice the parent of the need to rein in any one of the little miscreants.

I was baffled. Several times I felt like I should/could step in, but felt it wasn’t my place. These children had managed to derail the enjoyment of my own meal – does that give me permission to step into a situation.

What do you think? What would you do?

My inner voice was really chanting to get up and slap the women senseless, but my outer practical self said – jail term is not an option.

And did I mention that I asked the waitress if she got tipped well. Was I surprised when she said "no". . . . No I wasn't, not at all.