Kid's Public Meltdowns - The funny stories

[Hmmmmm]

The thread on public parenting made me remember a few times when I did wonder "What are people thinking of me" while parenting.  Or the kids just had a meltdown that ended up a favorite family story. 

The one I still chuckle about wasn't even my kid but a good friend's son.

Three moms decided to take our kids to an amusement park for a day.  The 7 kids ranged from 8 to 4 in age, with the 4 year old being a world champion whiner we'll call Sam. Sam had been putting on a good show all day about not wanting to drink anything other than soda and his mom had finally put her foot down and declared "water only" after late afternoon snack.  Sam has a meltdown at dinner and makes a big show about just sucking on ice since he doesn't like "water" and his mom won't buy him a soda. We made sure the other kids didn't enlighten him to the ingredients in water.  At around 7, we decide it's time to leave.  To get back to our car, we have to take one of the shuttle buses from the park entrance out to the parking lot.  While we are waiting for the shuttle one of the mom's asks the kids if they are thirsty and she'll buy them a bottle of water.  All of us except Sam ask for a bottle and Sam goes into whining mode about wanting a soda.  Mom says no, he can have water if he's thirsty.  The bus arrives and we all climb aboard, everyone clutching a bottle of water but Sam. Sam proceeds to go into full dramatic mode, London Stage worthy, about how he is dying of thirst and no one will give him anything to drink, and he's only had ice all day, and he's going to get sick if he doesn't get a bottle of WATER right then.  I've always wondered what the other people on the bus thought when 3 adult women and 6 kids all burst out laughing to the point of tears in our eyes over a poor, dehydrated, 4 year old.

So what is your favorite "kid meltdown" moment that you witnessed, had to endure from your child, or even better, perpetrated on your guardian.   

[Tini]

Favourite meltdown? My daughter (2 at the time) shrieking from the living room "Mummy, mummy, HELP, I'm BLEEDING, I need a PLAAAAASTEEEEER!"

Me (dabs and sniffs): "Sweetie, that's raspberry juice."

Her: "... oh."

[CakeBeret]

We were trying to get professional photos done with two toddlers and a preteen. They are all cousins. There were 4 adults in the room, and each kid had at least one parent present. It was kind of hilarious how the kids' tempers fed off each other.

Toddler 1: I'm hungry.
Toddler 2: MOMMY I'M HUNGRY!
Preteen: Yeah, I'm hungry too.
Toddler 1: MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMY I'M HUNGRYYYYYYYYY
Toddler 2: *screams*
Preteen: *starts to cry*
Toddler 1: *shrieks* I WANT A BISCUIT.
Toddler 2: *throws herself on the floor, kicking and screaming*
Toddler 1: *stares in horrified fascination at Toddler 2, so shocked that he actually stops whining*
Preteen: *crying* Mom I'm soooo hungry!
Toddler 2: I WANT APPLESAUCE! *still shrieking magnificently*
Toddler 1: *still staring in shock*
Toddler 2: DADDY! GIVE ME APPLESAUCE!
Toddler 1: *the thought of applesauce has finally penetrated his dazed trance* MOOOOOOOOOOM, I WANT APPLESAUCE!
Preteen: *stops crying, starts stamping foot* I want applesauce too! Moooooom!

Parents: *staring in dazed confusion*

Each of the kids had eaten no more than an hour before, for the record. I have never seen such a thing ever before or since.

[2littlemonkeys]

This one didn't happen in public but I still thought it was pretty funny.  The poor kid must have been very tired.  The events are as follows:

Chicken is served for dinner.

My 5-year old puts honey on her plate.

Then she starts freaking out because there is honey on her plate

Then she remembers she LOVES honey on chicken and eats with gusto

DH and I had this look on our faces for the 1-2 minutes this performance lasted - 

I'm trying to think of a public one that made me laugh but I'm usually just mortified my kids are acting like that. 

[RebeccainGA]

My DD was suitably cringe worthy in her day, I'm sure, but since I didn't take her on until she was 10, I don't know about all the little kid stuff.

However, my mom was nanny to a young child when I was in high school, and I baby sat him on weekends and in the evening occasionally for pocket money. I remember one memorable weekend we had gone (me, mom, my teenaged sister, and the youngin') to a museum nearby that had a free family day every weekend, and a really great kids area with hands on exhibits and lots of fun things to do. I was in charge of the youngin', as I was getting paid.

One exhibit they had was 'mothers and babies', with pictures of mothers and children through the ages, and the children were removable (like those wooden puzzles for small children). The idea was, you took them all out, and put them back where they belonged (using shapes and painting styles as a guide). They had the names of the painting on the back, just in case you got stumped. One was a Jesus and Mary. For some reason, the youngin' loved the Jesus piece, a lot. He didn't want to put it in the painting, but wanted to use it as a puppet and play with it. We kept telling him he had to put it in, so we could move on and let other kids play too. He refused. Eventually I just pried it out of his hand, put it in the painting slot, and tried to pick him up to move on (he was about 22 months at the time). He started wailing "Jeeeeeeeeeesus!! I love Jeeeeeeeeeesus!!! Give me Jeeeeeeeeeesus!!!" at the top of his little lungs.

I was so glad his parents weren't there. They are sternly atheists, and this just may have sent them over the edge if they didn't know what was going on.

[White Dragon]

Not a public meltdown, but one I've never forgotten.

I was baby sitting the kids down the street. The kids were really not that bad, but I did consider them a bit spoiled.

Cue one evening that it's time to put the 6 year old to bed.
The next hour was a wailing, shrieking argument about how his mother did so let him eat watermelon in bed  .
Ummm....no. Not gonna happen.

He eventually gave up and went to sleep and when I mentioned it to his parents they were looking at me like I had two heads and said - cautiously "You didn't let him have it, did you?" 

I am happy to report that young Master Watermelon is now grown up, married with a family and has a thriving medical practice. 

[amylouky]

My favorite is probably my nephew, who was maybe 4 at this time.
We had all gone to the mall, and my sister promised the kids a cookie at the cookie shop in the mall if they were good. They were, so we went to the cookie shop.
Practically as soon as the last cookie crumb passed, nephew's monster side came out. My sister asked him, "Nephew, I don't get it.. you have been really good all day. Then I do something nice for you and get you a cookie, and you decide to start acting bad?"
Nephew just looked at her and said, "Well, yeah Mommy.. that was the plan!"

[MommyPenguin]

My 4-year-old, Jenny, is a bit... mercurial.  The least little thing will set her off and she will wail and get really upset.  Not tantrums over wanting toys or something, just... emotional things.

For example: the other day, I was giving the three oldest kids a bath together.  My oldest (Emily) asked if I could tell them a story.  So I told them a story that was something like, "Once upon a time there was a little penguin.  And that little penguin was the dirtiest penguin you'd ever seen!  He had gotten all covered with grease and bird poop and dirty snow and all sorts of stuff.  So his mommy penguin told him he had to take a bath.  He dove into the ocean and got all clean!  He was so happy to feel clean and all fresh and good that he ran right over to where his father was digging in the garden and rolled around in the dirt and got all dirty again!  The end."  So then my oldest asked me if I could tell a story for Jenny.  So I told the exact same story, only this version was a bunny instead of a penguin and the bunny got dirty and clean in different ways.  I finished that story, and then Emily asked if I could tell a story for Charlotte (the 2-year-old).  So I told the exact same story again, this time about a doggie.

When I got to the part where the doggie had gotten a bath and then went tumbling in the dirt and got all dirty again, Jenny started to wail at the top of her lungs.  "I LOVED the doggie!"  She was freaking out and crying as if her heart were broken... over the dirty state of a fictional doggie.  I quickly added, "And then the doggie got another bath and stayed clean FOREVER AND EVER," and that was the end of it.  Oy.

[wonderfullyanonymous]

DD was just a few months old, and we were taking her to get her pictures taken. She was asleep until we woke her for her turn. She was doing really well considering she was still sleepy, until the photographer had bumped her head. Barely, just bumped her head. You would have thought he hauled off and whacked her a good one. I thought the photographer was going to cry. I kept reassuring him that he didn't do anything wrong, and that DD was just fine.


I was grocery shopping with DD (7 or and ODS (3 or 4), and they were really well behaved. DD asked if they could get a treat, and while they didn't get something every time, I let them get something that day.

The minute that cashier rang them up and put them in the bag, ODS turned in a spawn of Satan. I told him if he didn't stop he wouldn't get his candy bar. He didn't, and he also thought I was messing around.

Kids help me get the groceries in the house, and get the stuff put away. DD asks if they can have their treats. I gave DD hers and told ODS that he could not have his because of his behavior, and proceeded to eat his candy bar. I could have picked DD chin off the floor, and ODS starts crying. She asked if she could share hers with her brother. I said no, he does not get anything for how he was behaving after I bought the candy.

He NEVER did that again.

[Slartibartfast]

Cue one evening that it's time to put the 6 year old to bed.
The next hour was a wailing, shrieking argument about how his mother did so let him eat watermelon in bed  .
Ummm....no. Not gonna happen.

One very memorable family I babysat for included a seven-year-old who seriously tried to convince me that his parents always let him pour laundry detergent and water on the floor of the basement and slip around in his socks!  His mom got a good laugh out of that when she got home.

[sammycat]

Not a meltdown/tantrum as such, but most likely the sign/result of a long day anyway.

It was 3 year old DS's first overseas trip and we had been on the go everyday for about 2 weeks by that stage, with a new hotel every few days.   We arrived at a popular tourist attraction that included a boat ride through some glow worm caves.  We were waiting for the boat with a group of older people that we had run into several times during the day and, who from their manner of talking, seemed to be very conservative. 

After waiting in silence with the above forementioned group in a very small space for about 5 minutes, DS shouted out at the top of his lungs "when is that F---- boat going to be here?!!"   I just about died.

We always took great pains not to swear around this particular DS as he was very quick to pick up new words.  To make matters worse, the boat appeared within seconds of his comment, which was almost like reinforcing his bad behaviour.  It was the last boat of the day, and we didn't have another chance to come back, otherwise I would've caught a different boat. Thankfully most of the ride was in darkness, and the other group never said anything, but oddly enough (not) I can barely remember anything the tour guide said as I was still so embarrassed over DS's outburst. 

[Deetee]

Not public and not hilarious. Just odd.

We were heading out to dinner and my daughter (4 years old) realised that she had left her brand new stuffed doggy present at home. She was heartbroken, but we didn't turn around (I think we had time, but neither of us wanted to set that precedent). After she stopped wailing and while we were still driving I told a story of a time when I had found this  wonderful glass rod on the beach and I loved it and I took it to school and my friend dropped it and it broke and I was inconsolable and miserable.

Anyhow, a couple weeks later, my daughter has gone to bed and then 15 minutes later, my husband hears weeping (very odd) and heads in and finds her with her face coated in tears. He asks what is wrong and it turns out she was weeping over my glass rod. 

Then  a week later it happened again in the middle of the day. I guess my story was more impactful than I thought.

[amylouky]

Cue one evening that it's time to put the 6 year old to bed.
The next hour was a wailing, shrieking argument about how his mother did so let him eat watermelon in bed  .
Ummm....no. Not gonna happen.

One very memorable family I babysat for included a seven-year-old who seriously tried to convince me that his parents always let him pour laundry detergent and water on the floor of the basement and slip around in his socks!  His mom got a good laugh out of that when she got home.

That reminds me of my cousin's son, who tried to convince me when I was babysitting that all of the clocks in their house were 20 minutes fast, so it wasn't REALLY bedtime. Yes, even the one on the cable box.

[MommyPenguin]

Not public and not hilarious. Just odd.

We were heading out to dinner and my daughter (4 years old) realised that she had left her brand new stuffed doggy present at home. She was heartbroken, but we didn't turn around (I think we had time, but neither of us wanted to set that precedent). After she stopped wailing and while we were still driving I told a story of a time when I had found this  wonderful glass rod on the beach and I loved it and I took it to school and my friend dropped it and it broke and I was inconsolable and miserable.

Anyhow, a couple weeks later, my daughter has gone to bed and then 15 minutes later, my husband hears weeping (very odd) and heads in and finds her with her face coated in tears. He asks what is wrong and it turns out she was weeping over my glass rod. 

Then  a week later it happened again in the middle of the day. I guess my story was more impactful than I thought.

That's so sweet!  I got a LEGO Technic set for Christmas, and I was going to have the girls help me put it together a day or two after Christmas when my husband reminded me that we really needed to clean up the living room first.  So I set it aside and we cleaned up.  A day or two later, I wanted to put my set together, and... I have not been able to find it since.  Seriously, it's been three weeks since Christmas and it has still not shown up!  And it's not a small box!  The other night I said something to my daughter along the lines of, "Poor Mommy.  Her very own special LEGO set for Christmas, and it's lost.  Poor Mommy."  She immediately said, "Mommy, I'll save up my allowance and buy you a new one!  Even if it takes a year!"  So sweet. 

(Remind me not to tell her about the plastic bendy ruler I found in middle school and adored, until the day I bent it too far and it broke.)

[wonderfullyanonymous]

A coworker was telling me about this story of her youngest son.

They were visiting family, which side I don't remember, but during a lull in the conversation, he stood up, and at the top of his lungs shouted, "I hate all these f****** people."  She said she was wishing the floor would have opened up and swallowed her.