Involuntary mom arm

When you drive the older kids around (And by older I'm talking teenagers and above) do you do the mom arm thing when making a quick stop?

If you are not a mom then you may be wondering what in the world am I talking about.

Mom arm
- n
1.  Also called a maternal automobile restraint.  An arm placed in front of an unsuspecting passenger to restrain forward motion in a event of a collision.

2.  An overprotective action which causes involuntary eye rolling in pre-adults.

Since my daughter graduated college last year I haven't had the opportunity to drive with her as a passenger of late.  Last week while we were going out to lunch, a car cut in front of me forcing me to brake quickly.  The old familiar mom arm appeared and she looked at me as if I had grown two horns.  I just shrugged it off.  I doubt that the mom arm really does much in the way of protection in an accident.  The seat beat takes care of that.  Since the mom arm is involuntary it really doesn't matter if the passenger is a child, adult, or stranger.  It just happens.

A few days later I received a phone call from said daughter.  While she was taking her beloved jack russell terrier to the vet, she stopped short and lo and behold the mom arm made an appearance!  Dogs don't roll their eyes, but judging from the horror my daughter felt, I can only imagine the look on her face.  Guess the mom arm works with pets too.

Do you do the mom arm?

Crying baby? Where are your manners…parents?

You know I don’t often weigh in on controversial issues, which is why I have a lot of friends.  Every once in a while though I just have to add my two cents. As I read the paper this morning I noticed an article that is making it’s way across the Internet.  It concerns the issues of a crying baby in a fancy restaurant.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love kids.  I was a girl scout leader and I’ve raised two of my own and although I wasn’t considered a strong disciplinarian and was more of a pushover I did teach my children manners.  You see I was taught manners as a child and I am always considerate of those around me.

When the children were little I wouldn’t dream of taking them to the opera or to a fancy, quiet restaurant where they might make a loud scene…that is consideration.

I guess I ate a lot of McDonald’s salads and Chuck E Cheese pizza because those are the places that catered to my tiny tots.  In stores and other restaurants, if the children misbehaved or caused a scene I simply took them outside and if they continued I went home with my dinner in a doggie bag.  I can truthfully say they didn’t do it very often, because they wanted to be there and knew if they acted up they wouldn’t be.

My husband and I go to a movie each and every week since they kids grew up.  I am always amazed at how many people bring tiny tots to heavy R rated movies and I’m not talking about action adventure, I’m talking about horror movies that even give me nightmares, let alone a 3-year old. 

Just last week we went to a movie and a woman came in toting 4 kids all under the age of 5, she set them down behind us and went and sat with a babe in arms three rows back.  The kids kicked my seat, talked through the movie and spilled popcorn and drink all over the place.  In addition one started to walk down the stairs, fell and screamed for 5 minutes.  All the while the woman enjoyed the movie three rows back.  Now that is inconsiderate!

Here is my answer to the question of kids in restaurants and public places.  If the place you are going doesn’t cater to kids and your baby sitter cancels…don’t ever hire that babysitter again and chuck it up to experience.  If your child acts up when you take them in public, be considerate of those around you and take them outside.  I guarantee you will only have to do that once or twice and they will get the message.  And if you can’t afford a baby sitter maybe your can’t afford to go out at the moment.  Teach your kid’s manners and they will be thankful, grateful and mindful.