Abby Connolly
People react differently when a baby cries in certain public settings, such as a plane or restaurant.
Some freak out and get angry, some ignore it and shake it off, and some empathize with the parents and try to make them feel better.
One woman was recently out to dinner with friends and was scolded for acting indifferent and continuing to eat when a mom sat with a crying baby at the restaurant.
She recently went to dinner with two friends, Ann and Kim, who are both dealing with baby fever. Ann is 17 weeks pregnant, and Kim and her husband have been desperately trying to have a baby. It seems that babies and pregnancies are the only things Ann and Kim want to talk about these days.
“Though it doesn’t interest me much as someone who doesn’t plan on ever having children, I happen to have developed a good tolerance for pregnancy [and] child-related topics because all my friends are either pregnant or parents,” she explained.
“During dinner, they spoke only about pregnancies and childbirth, and I was hoping to catch up on other topics. I couldn’t get them to talk about anything else despite politely and subtly trying to change the topic several times.”
Although disappointed in her friends, she remained respectful and participated in the conversation, as she understood that was very important to them.
Later, a baby at a table near them began to cry when dessert was served. At first, the crying was noticeable, but she could tune it out, especially as the mom was doing everything she could to calm it down.
However, Ann and Kim could not tune out the crying. They weren’t angry about it but felt sad for the baby.
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