Recently we were dining out at one of our favorite restaurants, and a few tables away from us there was a toddler seated in a high chair. The toddler was pitching an absolute fit, wailing at the top of his voice. Next to him, with her back to us, was an adult woman which we assumed was the child’s mother. She basically ignored the wailing child, who continued his pitiful rant throughout our meal.
I couldn’t help thinking “at least do something to pacify the little tyke. Talk to him, play with him, put him on your lap. Do something“. But she never seemed to give the sobbing boy any attention. What kind of mother are you, I thought. We finished our meal and got up to leave, walking past the table where the child was still crying. It wasn’t until I saw the mother from the front that I noticed she was wearing a pouch on her chest with a newborn inside, and was trying to spoon feed the baby. Poor woman really had her hands full.
Lesson learned. Don’t judge until you know the whole story.