There was a little girl...

We went out to eat tonight - yummy fettuccine alfredo! - and observed an interesting family. Older parents with a girl of about 8 who was, incidentally, wearing a Jonas Brother's shirt. Now, I'm not saying the clothing choice related to her behavior, but...

Here are some of the remarks we overheard from her:
(All said in the brattiest princess voice you can conjure)

"Yuck! Everything on here is disgusting!" as she throws the dessert menu across the table at her mother.

"I hate Dr. Pepper!!"

"Well, what do you THINK??!!" said sarcastically to Dad, along with a dynamite eye-roll.
This one actually produced a response from the mother, "Hey, that's enough."
To which the girl "replied", "NO, THAT'S ENOUGH FROM YOU!"

At this point we were on our best parenting behavior.

"Make sure you enunciate." I whispered to Brian. "They're watching us."

So it made for a very pleasant meal on our part.

"Boys, could you please talk just a bit quieter? Thank you."

"Caleb, I already told you that I didn't want you putting your silverware into your silly putty. Please hand it over to me. Thank you."

"Sam, please sit down in your seat. Thank you, sweetie."

"Noah, what a good job you're doing eating your spaghetti! Where did you learn to twirl your fork like that?"

"Sure you can have another breadstick. Here you go. Sam, please pass this to Caleb. Thank you, Sam."

"Yes, the mints will be your treat tonight."
Sam's response: "Yeah!"

Noted here:
As the other family was leaving, we heard the little girl begging to stop somewhere for a treat. The dad shook his head no, and his facial expression was "No way!" The mother placated her by intervening with, "There's one right on the way."

I hope this family was just having one of those moments where no one really shines behavior-wise, because, as I told Brian, if one of our kids dared to talk to us like that, we'd be in the car headed back home. Maybe to an entire JAR of hot sauce.

I'm kidding. Just so you know. Please don't report me.

But I'd like to acknowledge that we have more than our fair share of less than shining moments as parents. And yes, I believe that one or two may have been observed by the general public. Maybe someone wrote about it on their blog. If you find it, let me know.