On this brisk Chicago morning (5\u00c2\u00b0F when we left the house!), we had an outing to our favorite local breakfast spot, “The Tre Kronor”:http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=tre+kronor+chicago. Everything was wonderful — except for the cranky guy at the next table. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, we’ll be the first to admit that Lucy can project like an opera star. (In fact, “Ann admitted it”:\/news\/2006\/lucys-troublesome-habit\/ in her latest post right here at BNN!) So we were well aware that we might have to beat a hasty retreat from the place if the prima donna decided to make it a decibel day. But how delighted we were that she took to her industrial-issue highchair with interest, and sat silently sucking an industrial-issue spoon (see photo)….<\/p>\n
…Until, after about 15 minutes there, she issued one of her contented, extended grunts. For a demonstration of about how much noise she made, play this seven-second video. Amid the noise of the bustling, breakfast-time restaurant, she could hardly even be heard, and we were feeling pretty lucky.<\/p>\n
<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\np{color:gray}. Note: If you can’t see the video, you may simply need to update your free “Quicktime”:http:\/\/www.apple.com\/quicktime\/ plugin.<\/p>\nBut what do you know? The guy at the next table whips around and barks, “Pacifier! Use it!” Naturally, we were stunned — especially since as new parents this was the first time we’ve encountered such a rebuke. We didn’t respond to him, but I dearly wish I’d had the presence of mind to say, “I’m sorry, sir, but I’m really not comfortable putting a pacifier in your mouth, although you _are_ making rude noises, it’s true.”<\/p>\nThis is the kind of thing that really gets under my skin, partly because the human shaming response is hard to sidestep and partly because I so strongly dislike buttheads. I do also dislike ill-mannered children — or rather, parents who let them holler without regard for others — so on principle I sympathize with someone who feels unruly children are disrupting their dining experience. But this amount of noise? At breakfast? Let’s be reasonable. He might as well have objected to the laughter coming from some adults. (Besides, he seems to have an untutored confidence in the universal power of the pacifier.)<\/p>\nPeople on both sides certainly do get hot over this issue. There was a brouhaha here in Chicago last year over a caf\u00c3\u00a9, “A Taste of Heaven”:http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=taste+of+heaven+bakery+chicago, that posted a notice that “children of all ages should use their indoor voices” on the premises. (See the “_Reader_’s coverage”:http:\/\/www.chicagoreader.com\/hottype\/2005\/051118_1.html for the big picture.) When I directed a “national conference for graduate students and faculty”:http:\/\/followingchrist.org\/ in 2002, our policy against children in conference sessions was so objectionable to some that we had at least one man lying to our faces that he wasn’t bringing his kids — but we repeatedly caught him bringing them into the academic sessions. A friend of ours tells the story of being on a transatlantic flight with his three active, young children, and when asked before take-off by the man in front of him, “Is this what it’s going to be like the whole way over?”, our friend replied, “Yes, this is exactly the way it’s going to be the whole way over.” (What did the guy expect, the tranquilizers were going to kick in soon or something?)<\/p>\nBut the questions aren’t easy. How much right do we have to experience the public sphere in decorum? How much right do we have to allow our children to experience a wide array of public places?<\/p>\nAs you can imagine, the poo-poo head at the next table took a bit of the shine off our yummy breakfast. But on the whole, maybe it was a useful experience, because Ann and I now realize we need to prepare our hearts and tongues to be able to respond calmly and reasonably to people like this. Given the volume capabilities of our little Lucy Leather-Lungs, I’m sure there will be plenty of occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this brisk Chicago morning (5\u00c2\u00b0F when we left the house!), we had an outing to our favorite local breakfast spot, “The Tre Kronor”:http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=tre+kronor+chicago. Everything was wonderful — except for the cranky guy at the next table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-kids","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
p{color:gray}. Note: If you can’t see the video, you may simply need to update your free “Quicktime”:http:\/\/www.apple.com\/quicktime\/ plugin.<\/p>\n
But what do you know? The guy at the next table whips around and barks, “Pacifier! Use it!” Naturally, we were stunned — especially since as new parents this was the first time we’ve encountered such a rebuke. We didn’t respond to him, but I dearly wish I’d had the presence of mind to say, “I’m sorry, sir, but I’m really not comfortable putting a pacifier in your mouth, although you _are_ making rude noises, it’s true.”<\/p>\n
This is the kind of thing that really gets under my skin, partly because the human shaming response is hard to sidestep and partly because I so strongly dislike buttheads. I do also dislike ill-mannered children — or rather, parents who let them holler without regard for others — so on principle I sympathize with someone who feels unruly children are disrupting their dining experience. But this amount of noise? At breakfast? Let’s be reasonable. He might as well have objected to the laughter coming from some adults. (Besides, he seems to have an untutored confidence in the universal power of the pacifier.)<\/p>\n
People on both sides certainly do get hot over this issue. There was a brouhaha here in Chicago last year over a caf\u00c3\u00a9, “A Taste of Heaven”:http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=taste+of+heaven+bakery+chicago, that posted a notice that “children of all ages should use their indoor voices” on the premises. (See the “_Reader_’s coverage”:http:\/\/www.chicagoreader.com\/hottype\/2005\/051118_1.html for the big picture.) When I directed a “national conference for graduate students and faculty”:http:\/\/followingchrist.org\/ in 2002, our policy against children in conference sessions was so objectionable to some that we had at least one man lying to our faces that he wasn’t bringing his kids — but we repeatedly caught him bringing them into the academic sessions. A friend of ours tells the story of being on a transatlantic flight with his three active, young children, and when asked before take-off by the man in front of him, “Is this what it’s going to be like the whole way over?”, our friend replied, “Yes, this is exactly the way it’s going to be the whole way over.” (What did the guy expect, the tranquilizers were going to kick in soon or something?)<\/p>\n
But the questions aren’t easy. How much right do we have to experience the public sphere in decorum? How much right do we have to allow our children to experience a wide array of public places?<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, the poo-poo head at the next table took a bit of the shine off our yummy breakfast. But on the whole, maybe it was a useful experience, because Ann and I now realize we need to prepare our hearts and tongues to be able to respond calmly and reasonably to people like this. Given the volume capabilities of our little Lucy Leather-Lungs, I’m sure there will be plenty of occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On this brisk Chicago morning (5\u00c2\u00b0F when we left the house!), we had an outing to our favorite local breakfast spot, “The Tre Kronor”:http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=tre+kronor+chicago. Everything was wonderful — except for the cranky guy at the next table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-kids","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Poo-poo](\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/img_4859.JPG\")
<\/p>\n