I’ve written before about how unsettling it is to me when adults stare at Max. Well, here’s what’s even more unsettling: When kids stare blatantly at Max—I mean, just plain gawk—and their parents don’t say a word.
We were on vacation all last week, and it kept happening. While we were at dinner, and kids at other tables gaped at us feeding Max. When we were at the playground, and kids watched Max trying so hard to climb things. Once, I took Max on a train ride and he cried when it stopped and the nice conductor let us stay on. This kid literally walked right over to the little window Max was staring out of, stood there and just looked and looked at him. His mother was standing next to him. “Come on!” she said, and yanked him away. No apologies. Nada.
It makes me feel awful for Max, who at least doesn’t notice. It makes me kind of mad. It makes me really perplexed why parents don’t say anything to their kids. I mean, maybe they do later on but it seems like they should at least ask them to apologize or apologize on their behalf or, well, say something.
I want to tell the kids, “It’s rude to stare,” but I don’t. That’s not my role. Today, though, a kid at the pool was staring at Max and I said, “Would you like to say hello?”
He did. It was a start.
The kids, I can handle. But the parents? What can you say?
Ellen blogs daily at Love That Max