Parenting choices

I live in a rather white hetero-normative bubble.  White-middle class-Kent. Most of my friends are home owners (we are not) and are professional double income families.  For the most part the parenting style around these parts is similar to my own upbringing with touches of alternative earthy tidbits here and there.  I have a few friends who are really into attachment parenting, cloth diapers and so on, but over all it is rare in my own circle.  There are differences in all parents, and as any parent will tell you, a lot of judgement.  As much as I would like to say I don't take part in this judgement, I know I do.  I try to keep it in check but sometimes it feels like I just keep it in reserve for extreme parenting situations. Today I had a chance to put things into perspective.  I went to the hospital for a gestational diabetes test.  This involves a two hour wait while the sugary syrup goes through your body.  During this time there were other women in the waiting room, all doing the same test.  One was with her husband and son.  My guess was that he was 4 years old.  Over the course of the two hours he was told to shut his mouth, shut up, if he didn't shut his face he wouldn't get any sweeties and other such things to keep him quiet.  His father wouldn't take him for a walk and both parents were just expecting this kid to be quiet and sit there politely as they waited for the two hours to pass.  Eventually the little boy hit his father in the arm which made the father whip his hand out and whack him on the chest.  The boy cried for a minute as the father said "if you hit me I will hit you back" and for the next half hour that is exactly what happened. 

I sat there watching this happen.  I stopped trying to hide the fact I was paying attention after the third "shut up" occurred and was kind of shocked at how openly people would say such things to their child.   it made me think about my own communications and where I needed to grow with my daughter but it also put some of the judgements I have into perspective.    I felt really sorry for the little boy and thought how much of his parents frustrations would have been curbed if the father had just taken him for a walk around the hospital (which is highly equipped with fun kids stuff). I am thankful for the lesson and thankful for the time I had to reflect on it.