A note to those in the grocery store

First of all, I apologize for my child's recent grocery store meltdowns. She's 4 and trying to learn to navigate the world & sometimes doesn't do it as well as other times. She's an absolutely wonderful child, I promise. And a little thank you to those that have given me the sympathetic looks that say "I've been there, it's OK."

Now, second of all, for those that are a little less attuned to the intricacies of body language, please understand that when a 4 year old is starting to melt down & her mother is physically down on her level in order to try to thwart said meltdown, that is NOT THE TIME to stop and ask her a bunch of questions about the baby in the sling. Yes, she is adorable, and under normal circumstances I enjoy being told so. But when a small child is starting to lose it, it's fairly obvious- especially when you've been gawking at us for the last several minutes, as I've seen the 2 people doing that have done this to me. Perhaps your parenting is very different than mine and you would handle the situation differently, but right then is not the time to try to sway me to your way of thinking. So, please don't be offended when I tell you as politely as I can muster at that point that I really need to give my attention to my child. I don't multitask very well and being as I signed on to the responsibilty to raise her to be a good citizen of the world, she's my priority.

Thank you for your understanding.