Thinking Out Loud
NO NO NO NO!

July 13, 2014
By: Diane Szczepanski

When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.
Erma Bombeck

Lila had a temper tantrum.

I don't know who Lila is, but I could hear her carrying on in her back yard, having a full blown, crazed meltdown.

From roughly a block away.

The parents were handling it pretty well, but I was waiting for it and finally, there it was, "Lila, you stop crying or I will give you something to cry about!".

Lila did eventually calm her ear piercing wails to more acceptable decibel levels, the dogs in the neighborhood came off of high alert and quit barking and peace was restored.

It was back to normal in a "...move along now folks, there's nothing more to see here" kind of way.

Any parent out there, unless you are some super human parent freak of nature and in that case I don't want to meet you because you're...well...a freak, has experienced a "Lila" moment.

Mine was in a crowded mall with awesome acoustics and by the time I got him kicking, screaming, out the door, everyone knew there was a 'Shane Michael!' in the house, causing BIG trouble for some poor, frazzled Mom.

It goes with the parental territory and ranks right up there with the changing diapers of a kid who should have already grasped the concept of potty training and dealing with a 'biter'.

These days, now that my beloved son is 18 years old and pretty capable of managing his emotions, I just smile when I see someone else's kid having a conniption out in public.

I smile, cross myself and say a quick prayer for patience, for the worn out parent, all while running as fast as I can in the other direction.

Lame? Maybe.

Smart? ABSOLUTELY.