Mamma Che Buono

Mmmmm.... gelato.

Some of you are aware of the odd situation that Jerry and I are in with his job, for the rest I'll make it short and sweet... Jerry's boss is a lunatic and has him spend approximately 75% of his time in Miami, regardless of logical reasoning. I've had multiple breakdowns, psycho-chick reactions and almost one call to 911 (I was POSITIVE someone was breaking into my house, but it was just an electrical short). Through all of this, Jerry has been extraordinarily understanding and has tried his best to calm my hormones. Lucky for me, we FINALLY got to spend an entire weekend together, probably the first since September. The poor guy is probably more ready than ever to return to Miami since I practically clung to him this weekend like I clung to my parents when they first left me at pre-school. 

Not wanting to waste the weekend inside, I dragged him to downtown West Palm Beach to go discovering... and we discovered our new favorite activity... criticizing parents doing stupid things and vowing to "not be that parent". I'm not talking about letting a baby cry or the kids playing in the fountain (regardless of the temperature in the 60s) or even the kid who chased the pigeons right into my food, we were specifically looking for "stupid parents". We found our first in the parking lot... two parents letting their child tie his shoes in the middle of the road in oncoming traffic. We spent a good hour talking about how we would never let our children do that and laughing about how Jerry would scoop them up by the head and drag them to the side.

Our next parental faux pas we found at the best place in the world. Mamma Che Buono... mmmm. It is a gelateria that sells more yummy desserts than any pregnant lady could ever eat. I will be going back there before the week is out and probably every week until I die, or run out of money. Yum-o. Back to the faux pas... Jerry and I were eating our delicious desserts outside when I noticed a child in the gelateria had left his Razor scooter right in front of the door. I literally watched 3 people trip over it. It took every ounce of my being to not move it or go in and ask the child to move it. Jerry told me to just leave it... I SO didn't want to, and next time I won't. Then I saw the kid come out and ride it to his parents who were sitting RIGHT THERE! A 13 year-old who is a little lax in the common sense department doesn't really surprise me, but the parents were right there? This made me even more angry for not doing anything, because they would have at least thought about their child's actions (good or bad). Oy. 

Everyday, more and more, I realize why my job is so hard and why it isn't ever going to get easier.  When my mom worked for a daycare many years ago, she used to rant and rave about how there should be a test for people to take before they become parents. Where as that may never happen, those people with common sense may need to stop worrying about others will think and speak up. I'm not a big fan of Hillary Clinton, but she did say one smart thing 10 years ago or so... It takes a village. 

Literally translated, mamma che buono means "good mother who". I'm not going to hold my breath for people to realize that we need to start working together to raise the next generation, that day will probably never come, but at least while I'm waiting there is yummy gelato to eat.