open letter

Dear mean, old, crabby people of the world,

I understand that you have lived a long life and that there are issues you are facing that I have no concept of. However, don't think that you have the right to judge me as a mother just because my kids are laughing a little loud in the grocery store check-out line. You can keep your rude comments about my kids and my mothering to yourself. My kids were not being terrible and I am not a terrible mother for letting them laugh as I bagged the 10 bags of groceries I had.

So, the next time you see a mother with small children, maybe you could have a little compassion and understanding. If you see beads of sweat on the mother's forehead because she is working as fast as she can to get her kids out of the store before a meltdown happens, have some compassion. If you see her struggling to keep her baby/toddler from crying because she doesn't know what the baby wants, have some compassion. The odds are that she hasn't eaten a full meal that day, hasn't gone to the bathroom since her kids woke up, and isn't quite sure if all the groceries she bought are going to break her budget.

I will fully admit that I have no idea what it feels like to get old. But I don't come up to you in the grocery store and ask you to move faster because you are going slow. I don't ask you if you could please make up your mind already on which bread you want to buy so I can get mine. I don't ask you to turn your hearing aid up because it's annoying hearing you say "what" ten times in a row. I don't do those things because they are rude and I have been taught to respect my elders. My kids were not being obnoxious, they weren't being rude, and they weren't hurting anyone. They were simply laughing.

So, then next time you are annoyed with a mother and her young children in the grocery store, find it within yourself to have some compassion and understanding. If you can't, then simply shut your mouth, concentrate on your senior citizen discount, and leave the mothering of my children to me.

Thank you.