"Karen" wrote:

> Your email was very descriptive. If the restaurant owner called the
> police, I think your email would make a great addition to the police
> report.

I hadn't considered that. I guess I'd assumed that the manager and the
driver would be enough. I'll call the restaurant and let them know I'd help
if needed. The thing is, everyone there saw what I did, and probably more
that went on before I arrived. I didn't actually see the boy run in front
of the car, I was glancing away at the time, but once outside, the scene was
pretty self explanatory. Made me wish I had one of those cell phones that
records video.

This is an example of children's bad behavior being exacerbated by adults
not being responsible. Mom seemed more like a big kid herself, very
immature. She obviously loves the boys, but showed it wrong. Yes, you want
your kids to eat their breakfast, but don't go about it *that* way. Later,
she was playing with them instead of teaching them how to behave properly.
The accident in the parking lot showed she really wasn't prepared to deal
with stress or emergencies. Grandma seems to be able to control this bunch
when she wants, but she's checked out most of the time. Besides, Grandma
also had no problem whacking the little one in a crowded restaurant, makes
me wonder what she's willing to do when alone with the kids.

I started out mentally preparing to post that story within a couple of
minutes of entering that diner. Yes, those kids were really behaving badly,
and I was really annoyed; but I was also feeling pretty full of myself
knowing that my kids had *never* behaved so badly in a public establishment.
As the behavior got worse, I even started to get a little impressed with how
bad those kids and their Mom could be. I was beginning to anticipate the
enjoyment of telling everyone all about it. But as the saying goes, it's
all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Now I'm wondering how much blame goes to the rest of the adults there. When
Mom was allowing an entire restaurant to be subjected to the increasingly
bad behavior of her children, nothing was done. When Mom started to
escalate the behavior by joining in, nothing was done. No matter what that
group did, no one got involved beyond exchanging disbelieving looks with
each other or eye-rolling at them. I'm willing to bet that if Mom hadn't
attacked the car after the near-miss; if she'd just grabbed the boys and put
them in her own vehicle to wait for Grandma; we'd all have stood around and
expressed our shock and disapproval with the whole episode, but no one would
have done anything. No one tried to talk to the boy who almost got hit by
the car. No one tried to stop them from leaving after the accident.

Instead, Mom lost control at a stranger, and the manager came to his aid. I
got the impression that the dents on the man's car were more important than
that little boy.

~~ Shelly ~~