Good Thing She Didn't See Boo And Me Thumbing Through A Vaccination Brochure

This letter to the editor was in my hometown paper this morning.

Parents should seize teachable moments

Recently, while sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, I noticed a mother and two restless, preschool-age children.

She tried to interest them in some magazines to no avail. She should have brought their own storybooks, or some simple toys. She could have used that time to teach them how to count or to say the alphabet or to recite nursery rhymes or Bible verses. [emphasis mine]

Parents let too many teachable moments slide by, lost to eternity. How sad!

Nina M.

Decatur

Ahem. A-HEM. Well.

There's just not much more I can add to that.

I know that I personally never feel more encouraged as a parent than when I face, you know, JUDGMENT FROM A COMPLETE STRANGER. I mean, that frazzled mama might have been up all night with two sick babies (or sick as a dog herself), at which point I doubt flashcards were at the top of her to-do list.

And I certainly don't want to bash the woman who wrote the letter - she was just speaking her mind, as she is completely entitled to do - but, um, gosh. Wow.