Manners

I have tried hard to teach my son manners. He says please, thank you, excuse me, you're welcome, I'm sorry, "are you ok?", etc. Granted, he's just 2, so sometimes he doesn't know the appropriate way to behave in some situations. So what was Mrs. Nosy's excuse? We stopped by Tuesday Morning this evening to get a birthday present for a party we're going to on Sunday. We had spent the whole afternoon with friends downtown at the Children's Fountain and feeding the ducks. So I wanted this to be a quick stop. I already knew pretty much what I wanted to get. I loaded both kids into the stroller to make it as easy as possible. I had to strap Quinn down within the first five minutes because he was swinging and hanging on the handle of the stroller. Not only was he about to flip his sister over, if he broke our expensive stroller, I would take it out of his allowance until it's paid for. Anyway, we made it to the toy aisle with only mild annoyance (mine) and him saying "I have that?" about 19 times. We stopped at the puzzles and I flipped through them, looking for the perfect birthday present. Incidentally, I was also keeping my eyes open for something Quinn might like. But I wasn't going to get him anything after he started crying about the ABC puzzle. He wanted it bad. Don't think I'm a terrible, heartless mother who doesn't want her kid to learn his ABCs. He is OBSESSED with his letters. He knows them all, knows the sounds they make, can spell a few words, including his name, etc. He can sing about three versions of the alphabet song (current fave is Alphapig's from SuperWhy), and he can sing the alphabet by the sounds the letters make as fast as by the letters themselves. He owns about 25 alphabet books. And he is great at puzzles. I buy him puzzles all the time. But he's worked his way up to doing 48-piece puzzles. I was not about to buy him a 26-piece ABC puzzle that he could put together in about 4.8 seconds. Now, there was a "sweet" older lady there who stopped us and asked how old Maddie was. We chatted about the kids and her grandkids, and she talked to Quinn about being a big brother. He asked her if he could have the ABC puzzle. Stop here. Think. What would you do? Would you:
A) Say something like, "Oh honey, I'm sure you have lots of puzzles at home. You don't need a silly old ABC puzzle."
B) Segue. Say "Do you know your ABCs? Aren't you a smart boy."
C) Bend down and find a few ABC puzzles and say, "What about this one? I bet you could put this one together. What about these number puzzles? Your mom could get you one of these, too." Hand the ABC puzzle to Quinn and say, "That looks like a great puzzle." Walk away pleased with yourself for making the little crying boy happy.

Hmmm. I'll let you figure out which version we experienced. Sweet Granny screwed me bad. I waited until she walked away and then told Quinn we were not getting the ABC puzzle. I attempted to distract him with talk of other things and began moving quickly toward the cash registers. He began shrieking at top volume. I mean, screaming hysterically at the top of his lungs. I acted on my first instinct and clamped my hand over his mouth. Let me just say, that did not help. He screamed louder and I just tried to calm him down by whispering in his ear. He got better but it was still a good idea to move ourselves quickly to the front of the store. We checked out with very little fuss and only a little whimpering. But I will never forgive sweet Granny and I ask this of each of you. Please do not take sides with a child against his mother, ESPECIALLY if you are a complete stranger. It would have been bad enough if it were Quinn's grandmother doing it, but I just wanted to say "How DARE you?" This rule applies to those of you who want to give my child candy or snacks or anything of the sort. Asking Mom's permission after you offer something to a 2-year-old doesn't count as good manners. So say "please may I offer your child something you may not want him to have" BEFORE you say "would you like [fill in the blank]?" Thank you.