parade
Tonight at the holiday parade, which we go to almost every year, 3 tween boys, standing behind us, were loud and obnoxious. They were yelling and running back and forth past us to the street to grab candy, nearly knocking toddlers over, and laughing that they grabbed the candy before a child could reach out and grab it. Sadie was sitting in her WIKE bundled up, I sat in a camp chair by the front of the WIKE. The helper I brought sat to the back side of Sadie with the wagon and our things. Our helper reported to me that the tween boys repeatedly touched the WIKE handle and orange safety flag while laughing. It was already hard to enjoy the parade over their obnoxious yelling, and now I was feeling worried about them messing with Sadie. A few minutes later, they moved to the side, and they started looking at her inside the front of the WIKe, they huddled together and pointed over at her while secretly talking. None of their interaction felt kind and I felt we were in the middle of being part of their joke. I called out to them, Excuse Me, they looked over, and they looked shocked that I called to them. I said, That’s my daughter, That’s my daughter. The older of the three looked ashamed and aware, and I could see he was embarrassed. The loudest of the three continued on, not even phased. The mother to my right was watching them as well, as they pushed past her daughter, yelling and running to the candy in the street. That mom and I shared the same sentiments about the loud tweens, and she commented, Where are their parents?
Yes, Where are the parents? They were there, and did nothing.
We didn’t stay much longer after that, Sadie was getting frustrated and not enjoying the parade while they were yelling overtop her head.
