Parenting: Who was wrong in this situation?

My son is very social, he's 10. Her husband was wearing a Patriots Jersey. They were sitting in a both in front of us with their two kids. My son JOKINGLY smiled at him and said "Spygate." (Scandal that the Patriots were part of) The guy just embarrassingly smiles but his wife looks pissed for some reason.



So then my husband gets back and hands my son and nephew an Oreo cookie blizzard. (My husband and son had a bet that my son couldn't go a week without candy, my son was on his 3rd day and used "ice cream and cookies aren't candy" as a loophole.) So turns out my husband also added Reese's to the ice cream and declared victory once my son took a bite. Which sparked a playful and hilarious argument. My son claiming "but there is no definitive proof that I actually ate any of the Reese's" The woman's kids were CLEARLY interested in the argument at hand. They both had huge smiles. So when my son said "ok raise your hand if you think my dad cheated?" my nephew and I rose our hands. My husband then said "No fair, she's your mom and JJ basically worships you." So my son looks at their table and says ok you guys raise your hand if you think my dad cheated. They both playfully start to put their hands up until their mom stops them saying. "Do you know how inappropriate you're being? Why would you encourage your children to bet anyways? Parents nowadays." Her face was so red and she was genuinely angry. This caused my son and nephew to cover their mouths trying to hold in their laughter. She saw this and continued, "lets go, I guess you can't have a family outing anymore without being annoyed by strangers" and her family gets up. Her husband looks at us shaking his head as if to say "sorry" so it's clear how he felt.



As she leaves she adds one more blow, talking to the staff she says "I hope you know you just lost a costumer because people don't know how to parent."



Lol I was a little mad at the time (which is rare for me.) I wanted to tell her how great my nephew and sons grades are, how they go to the best school in the OC, how they both excel in sports and are both kind hearted. I wanted to ask her why if I'm a bad parent her kids looked SEVERELY overweight (no offense to the kids they seemed cool.) But instead I let it go. This begs the question though.



Who was in the wrong? My son for apparently "bothering" these people? Or PMS lady who thinks friendly conversation is being rude? Would you mind? It was DQ not Justin's, not even redlobster lol.Parenting: Who was wrong in this situation?
Wow...If you didn't say anything to her you are a better person than me. I would have been all up in her grill. lol

She sounds really snobby. It's people like that who assure me that I am a good parent.



BTW: DQ Rocks!Parenting: Who was wrong in this situation?
places like that are suposed to be fun for the kids she was wrong.

if it counts i think the father was wrong to sneak candy into his icecream to win a bet.
She probably had a chip on her shoulder long before she crossed paths with your family.Parenting: Who was wrong in this situation?
It's nothing blow it off.
i think the way the woman handled the situation itself was wrong, rude, and inappropriate. even if she didn't like talking with other people then she could have gotten up and left without making a scene. and the whole idea of bashing someone else's parenting because the family (she is bashing) is friendly is ludicrous. even if she was in a bad mood, its not like you guys did anything wrong, if she did not want to interact, or want her kids to interact she could have politely said that they are trying to have family time and would appreciate being left out of your debate.

basically there are a million other ways this woman could have reacted to the situation without being such a snot. but some people are just stupid.

personally i would not have reacted that wayParenting: Who was wrong in this situation?
Haha your husband and son sound like they have a cool relationship. I think the woman handled it wrong. I understand where she's coming from about out of control kids but yeah that wasn't the case with your kids who were just trying to be friendly. I honesty feel bad for her kids, probably have zero fun.
Well... your son insulted her by insulting her husband's choice of team. At that point, your son sort of entered the 'annoying counter-fan' arena. Her husband may have known how to handle friendly heckling but she obviously didn't, and at that point he should have read the social cues and left her and her family alone. Then again, when she told her kids to ignore him and told him quite plainly to leave her and her family alone, he made fun of her by laughing behind his hands at her (very rude btw.) You didn't correct him for any of this... even if you didn't think it was a big deal you should have said something like "Leave her alone guys, she doesn't want you bugging them."



I've been on the receiving end of friendly sports heckling, my husband is a huge Buckeyes fan and we've got Michigan fans in the family. Before then, I've got friends who are BYU fans and some who are Air Force fans, so you see heckling there. But if I hadn't been exposed to that then I might be defensive. I know some of the slurs my hubby's gotten when people have put down the Bucks have made me blink, and he's had to tell me it's not a big deal, they're just being friendly. But it's way too easy to be really offended when you say something about someone's team. I accidentally said something about the pitcher in my FIL's team, and I saw his jaw tighten, and his nostril flare, and I wisely shut up. Some people simply cannot take any criticism about their team.



I think she should have lightened up. It's a 10 year old. But I also think your son needs to learn to read people better because she shouldn't have to tell someone 3 times to keep to themselves and leave her family alone.
What a cow!

She sounds like one of those my kids are better than yours person, you should of said something back to the stupid cow! She was extremely rude and pathetic just because you were messing around a little with your family.
Neither of you. She wasn't interested in you interacting with her family/children and your family was just doing their thing a little louder and more freely than theirs. What's odd is that this bothers you and that your so focused on being right and judging her attitude and family (which btw is your complaint about her). People are different, doesn't make you a better parent anymore than it makes her one.


Still doesn't make her wrong and you right, just different, which is what you asked about. As to your secondary question, I personally would have just shrugged it off, tell my kids to turn their attention back to our group and moved on.