Parents Talk: What's a Mom to Do?

Let me just start by saying that I am not the type of mom who usually criticizes other moms about how they choose to parent. Believe me when I say I've taken my fair share of unsolicited criticism as a parent, and it's no fun.

After last night's visit to Chuck E. Cheese's, I might have changed my policy.

I'll admit, it has been at least three years since I last set foot in Chuck E. Cheese's. The only significant thing I can recall about that last time was that my then 2 year-old daughter was afraid of the animated characters that come to life on the stage. That, and they have a salad bar.

So last night my husband and I took our three kids to Chuck E. Cheese's as a reward for our 3 year-old son. He had completed his potty chart and we promised him that he could choose the reward. Chuck E. Cheese's was his choice. 

I should have known that this wasn't going to go well the minute we walked in. There were screaming kids everywhere, toddlers wandered every which way without a parent and we couldn't find a clean, cleared table anywhere. Still, we ordered a pizza, sat down and quickly ate so the kids could play the games they wanted.

How do you handle other people's children when they misbehave in public? Tell us in the comments.

That's where everything went wrong. As my son and I started playing Skee Ball, two little boys, maybe 3-4 years old were literally walking across the lanes. One stood in front of my son preventing him from being able to throw the ball. The other dove for the balls in the chute and started throwing them into the rings. I tried to tell the one boy to get down from the game, that he might get hurt. He responded with a firm, "No." The other one climbed down off the game and snatched my son's tickets.

During all of this, there wasn't a single parent or even an older sibling around to supervise the boys. These kids were tearing up Chuck E. Cheese's without a care in the world.

I was so angry that my son was not able to enjoy the games because there seemed to always be another child in his face. When he wasn't being pushed out of the way, someone was trying to take his tokens, his tickets or trying to get in my purse. It made me even hotter to see a group of maybe a dozen parents just sitting in a group of booths chatting each other up and not watching after their own children.

What would you have done? Aside from asking the kids not touch my son's things and to politely get off the games if they couldn't play nicely, there wasn't much I could do.

How do you handle other people's children especially in public?