Late Comers and Crying Babies

Is it too much to ask that people show a little consideration for others when attending a special event like a play or recital? For those people who are chronically late, please do everyone a favor, and show up at least 15 minutes early. If you have to bring your baby, and they start crying during the event, tend to them in the lobby.

I find it so odd that people these days think nothing of showing up 20 minutes late to an event like this and disturb everyone else who left early enough to get there on time. Yesterday at my nephew's dance recital at Royal Palm Beach High School, at least 10 people on our side of the auditorium and several others all over the facility showed up well after the show started. These late comers interrupted all of us, trying to find their seats in the dark, chatting with the usher, stepping on everyone's feet trying to get to their seats in the middle of the row. Why couldn't these people just be on time? I'll tell you why. They are an inconsiderate bunch. At the risk of sounding self righteous, my entire family of 8 people coming from different parts of the area, three coming all the way from Jupiter, showed up a half hour early, just so we would not ruin the show for everyone else by tromping through the rows during the show. There are always the rare exceptions that something out of the ordinary happens, flat tire, dog/kid throws up moments before leaving, car won't start, etc. However, there were far too many late comers, and I am quite sure they all did not have conditions that were out of their control. If this blog pertains to anyone who is chronically late to everything, please think of someone other than yourself for a change, and plan accordingly so you can be a little early.

The second bit of rudeness that we had to be a part of, was a lady in the row behind us who had her baby and two toddlers with her. When her baby started crying loudly she decided to sit there instead of getting up to calm her baby down outside. She just sat there with the baby screaming and her two young toddlers loudly asking silly questions through the entire first half of the show. That was just rude! She was not the only one who did this either. There were at least two others in the auditorium. Mommies, when we have young babies, we just have to face the fact that we'll have to miss some special moments to take our crying babies out of an event like this. For those who this pertains to, don't just sit there. It's extremely rude and disrespectful to everyone around you. I have two kids and when they were babies, I used to leave them with a sitter. If I had to bring them to a show or event, and they cried, I was embarrassed and left immediately. Can I just point out the obvious to the oblivious out there? No one wants to hear a baby cry continuously at these things. I'm sure I will get tons of comments for both sides of these situations, but the truth is, the late comers and mothers who don't properly tend to their babies will lose the argument, hands down.