Ever imagined yourself enjoying in the midst of window shopping and gloating that finally your children are well-behaved and not giving you any distractions while you shop? Then to your horror, the short moment of peace was disrupted and the enjoyment turned into embarrassment??

Well, these embarrassing incidents do happen especially when you shop with kids….*sigh* There was this day when I was window shopping with my boys and Papa Ed. Then…..

Cashier: “Ma’am, your son has spitted on the floor.”

Mommy Denesa: “Pardon, what did you say?”

Cashier: “Is this your son?”

Mommy Denesa: “Yes. Why?”

Cashier:”He spits on the floor.”

Mommy Denesa: “Huh?” <I was surprised because Darren was by my side all the while and there was no sign of any saliva on the floor>.

Cashier:”You come and see.” < Still confused and surprised, I turned around the corner and followed her to the payment counter>

True enough, there was a small pool of sticky liquid (saliva) on the floor. Turning to Darren with displeased look, however, I was shock that Darren would spit and puzzled over when he left my side to spit and of all place …at the payment counter!!  Living in a clean city like Singapore, spitting in public is subject to fine and no way am I going to accept my son deliberately spitting in public.

Besides apologising, I reached out for the wet tissues in my bag and cleaned up the saliva. Embarrassed and astonished, I felt that it was more important to clean up the mess that he has created and also to teach him to apologise when making mistakes and never to spit in public or anywhere else in school!

Well, it was later that I understood that Darren did not spit on purpose. He has the tendency to open his mouth when he is excited or awed by something and his big pool of saliva dripped onto the floor! There must be something so captivating at the payment counter that caught his eyes *ohoh*

I remembered another occasion when a boy vomitted onto the floor of an air-conditioned indoor playground. His mother was rushing him to the toilet while the father followed along. I would have expected one of the parents to have the basic courtesy to either made some attempts to clear up the mess (which would cause stench) or at least inform the attendants. Instead, they care more about themselves and had it not been another considerate parent who went to inform the attendant, I would have gone to get help. Can’t imagine the children running around and stepping onto it. Also can’t imagine the stench later.  Some parents do not bother that it might affect other kids or cause inconvenience to others as long as they themselves are alright *sigh*. How do they then set a good example for their kids?

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