Child is crying for sugary junk food in the cereal aisle do you a) carry on and ignore them, teaching them they don't get their way when they throw a fit or b) give them the sugary cereal to shut them up so you won't offend all the other shoppers in the store

well parents you're damned if you do and damned if you don't because apparently your only option is to ignore the fact you've been in the store shopping for 45 minutes now and you can't cook supper without this food- you should just abandon your cart and stop at McDonald's on the way home because that will teach everyone a lesson!

I've had a kid melt down in the store once. I felt bad for everyone who had to listen to us, but I can tell you that kid learned that I wasn't going to reward that bad behaviour. I denied the request for fruit loops and then put the cookies back too. Kiddo may have been annoying that day, but he never did it again. I wish instead of being horrified by a crying kid in the store, the general public would support me in trying to teach my child, who is just learning after all, about how we behave at the grocery store.

I actually kind of loathe the idea that no one must every listen to a crying child in public, and a crying child in public is a sign of a bad parent. When it comes to nice restaurants or movies, I get it. But the grocery store? The shopping mall? Should parents just hide inside all day for fear that their child's crying will disturb someone? We're all part of this society and we need to have one another's backs. It means putting up with the developmentally delayed person who may be repeating himself. It means putting up with the elderly people who walk soooo slowly and spend 3 minutes deliberating over which can of peas to buy. It means putting up with the disabled person in the scooter, the gay couple holding hands, the person who is standing in the aisle paying with food stamps, counting out their change. And yes, the frazzled parents with grumpy children.

Also I thought reddit used to be against whacking your kids? Why is the answer to misbehaving children to whack them? that makes them cry more. You can be a very strict parent without ever having to raise a hand to your child.