Ugh. Few unrelated rants...

[conuly]

1. A three year old child (or nearly three) is old enough that she doesn't constantly have to be jollied out of tantrums. And it is absolutely, positively, *completely* unacceptable to have a tantrum on a train platform, in any case (even if it *is* a museum). Totally unsafe. Trust me. When I'm standing over her, telling her sternly to "stand up and walk", I'm not asking anything too onerous. She doesn't need you cooing at her. YOU'RE DOING A BAD THING. Do you know anything about children? Have you, in fact, ever been a child? Ever been anywhere in the vicinity (by which I mean "no more than halfway around the world from") of a child? Yeah? THEN YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER. Knock it off. I'm not abusing the kid by asking her not to do things that could cause her serious harm (say, flopping off the platform and into the third rail. No matter how annoying I find her, that wouldn't serve her right).

Edit: I'm not saying that there isn't a time and a place for jollying a child out of a tantrum. I'm just saying that the time and the place for that isn't on a train platform - though I suppose, if it had worked, I wouldn't be complaining. Pity that, with Ana, it hardly ever works, and never really has. So, again, knock it off. If I'd thought it'd help, trust me, I'd've tried it.

2. Slightly less annoying, when said child is crying at the top of her lungs as I walk her firmly across the street, please restrain your stares of "oh, god, you're beating that child, aren't you?" until *after* we're across the street. I don't really want to risk her trying to flop on the ground as the lights change. Wait until we're (relatively) safe.

3. Hey. If you're having a problem with something, and you've read the appropriate information, or you've done the appropriate "really basic steps", and you have to ask for help - do yourself a favor. Either say outright "Yup, my monitor *is* plugged in, and I *did* read the nifty instruction manual" or don't get offended that people ask "Well, um, is your monitor plugged in? Did you read the instruction manual?", okay?

4. *sighs* No matter how bad your (my) sense of direction is, there's really no excuse for turning a 2-block walk into a 17-block walk. (Wait, you say. Seventeen blocks? Surely, Connie must be exaggerating. And I am. Slightly. It was only 14 blocks, but 17 sounds better. Sounding better is my, ahem, prime directive. *coughs*)

Comments

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

"No matter how bad your (my) sense of direction is, there's really no excuse for turning a 2-block walk into a 17-block walk."

Bwahaha... I've done things like that! On one trip back East, I needed to go to the post office, which as it turns out was about a block and a half from where the bus dropped me off downtown...but I only figured that out after I'd spent about six hours walking in a HUGE loop that landed me at the outskirts of another suburb. Oops. On the bright side, the response I got from my host was so horrified (as if I'd announced that I ate worms for lunch) that it made me laugh! :)

[conuly]

Well, a six hour walk *is* pretty bad. Good exercise, though.

Once, in the sixth grade, my sister put me on a train to go to the Natural History Museum. Wrong train, though. After looping around the city once or twice or thrice (and being unable to call my mom, as that's the day our main phone line quit working), I eventually decided to just get out at the stop nearest the museum - and walk through Central Park.

I did, amazingly, manage to find the museum by this method, mostly by asking people for help very often, as I got lost in the park a few times. But I only got there as it closed, and my sister had already panicked and called the cops.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

"Momma said there'd be days like these..."

As someone that has had similar stuff happen kid-wise, you have my utmost empathy.

As for the long walk-- Thank gods I have a very good sense of direction/internal map.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

"No matter how bad your (my) sense of direction is, there's really no excuse for turning a 2-block walk into a 17-block walk."

Bwahaha... I've done things like that! On one trip back East, I needed to go to the post office, which as it turns out was about a block and a half from where the bus dropped me off downtown...but I only figured that out after I'd spent about six hours walking in a HUGE loop that landed me at the outskirts of another suburb. Oops. On the bright side, the response I got from my host was so horrified (as if I'd announced that I ate worms for lunch) that it made me laugh! :)

[conuly]

Well, a six hour walk *is* pretty bad. Good exercise, though.

Once, in the sixth grade, my sister put me on a train to go to the Natural History Museum. Wrong train, though. After looping around the city once or twice or thrice (and being unable to call my mom, as that's the day our main phone line quit working), I eventually decided to just get out at the stop nearest the museum - and walk through Central Park.

I did, amazingly, manage to find the museum by this method, mostly by asking people for help very often, as I got lost in the park a few times. But I only got there as it closed, and my sister had already panicked and called the cops.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

"Momma said there'd be days like these..."

As someone that has had similar stuff happen kid-wise, you have my utmost empathy.

As for the long walk-- Thank gods I have a very good sense of direction/internal map.