The library Story Time that split our moms group in two

Last fall at the downtown branch, I watched a toddler meltdown during story time. Half the parents thought the librarian should pause and comfort the kid, the other half said pushing through teaches resilience. The kid's mom just stood there frozen, and it made me rethink my whole approach to public parenting. Has anyone else had a kids' event turn into a battlefield of opinions, and how do you decide when to step in versus let things play out?

1 comments

1 Comment

joel_butler23d ago

...so my friend Dana had this happen at a birthday party, not even library time. Her kid was screaming over a balloon pop, and another mom jumped in to "fix it" by giving her a new balloon. Dana froze too, just like that mom you saw. Later she told me she felt like a failure either way, like stepping in meant her kid was weak and not stepping in meant she was cold. But honestly, the kid calmed down on her own in like four minutes and went back to playing. I think we overthink these moments, the kids mostly just move on. The real battleground is the adults judging each other, not the toddlers.