Don't Judge the Mom

Today on Facebook a friend of mine commented that she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a mom give her child a milkshake at 10am while at a local fast-food restaurant.
(And if you, friend who mentioned this, reads this, know I'm not attacking how you felt, just defending the mom more thoroughly. You are entitled to your opinion!)

Here was my response:

Wait till you're a mother. It makes perfect sense. Depending on the age of the child he might have pooped in the potty, might have made straight As, might have gone all week without hitting his sister... it might be a mother/son date, it might be his birthday. Also, they might have been up since 5am and it's lunch time for them, so it's a post-lunch treat.
Don't judge!

Let's delve into this a little bit more.
She did not say the age of the child in question, but I would guess he was younger than 12, because I don't know that she would have commented if the child had appeared to have been a teenager. And why not? Is it any better for a 15 year old to have a shake at 10am versus a 5 year old? Not really. But still, I'll guess this was a child between the ages of 2 and 12.

• If the child was between the ages of 2-5, my first guess would be the potty. Parents will use any form of trickery or bribery to get their child to make it on the toilet. Pee, poop, either way, we want to stuff in the potty and not spread on our walls and floors so we promise anything the kids wants for using the magic bowl. This is also a win for the kids who knows what he's doing, manages to hold out till 9am and then demands the prize - milkshake - first thing in the morning after he's fooled mom long enough.

• For us personally, when Mac poops on the potty 10 times, he gets a Mobigo. SB has one, he wants one... poop 10 times and it's yours. (by the way, he's up to 7!)

• Now, if he looked to be elementary school age, a milkshake for breakfast might have been his special prize for getting straight As on his report card, or for improving greatly in school. Maybe he didn't get into fights. Maybe he had just finished his final soccer game of the year. Who knows - but he was being rewarded for something wonderfully marvelous he had done. 

• I'd also toss out the idea that maybe the kid's dog, cat or goldfish died that very morning and the only way to console him was to get him some ice cream... I mean, it makes us feel better doesn't it?

• Now, perhaps this is a single mom and today is Junior's birthday. She doesn't have a ton of money for a huge party so an early-day milkshake is the perfect treat for her angel who is her entire world.

• Or maybe, since it's Saturday, they're waiting for Dad and his new girlfriend to pick him up for "Dad's weekend" and she's loading him up with sugar so now Dad can deal with a bouncing off the walls kid.

• If the child was younger, I'd also give the idea that he woke Mom up at 5am, they ate breakfast and now that it's 10, they're starving, Dad's still in bed, so they went out for lunch - even though it's 10am - and got a milkshake. Because they've been up for 5 hours. If we get up at 8am, 5 hours later is 1pm. Nobody would argue with a milkshake then, right?

• Now, I do have to throw this one out there, since I blogged about my son's allergies and perhaps getting over them - Maybe, just maybe, this little boy has been dairy allergic his entire life and last night they got word that he is no longer allergic to dairy so Mom decided that it was high time her child taste the wonderful goodness of a milkshake. I know once we have official word that Mac is no longer dairy allergic (I'm hoping soon), I plan to throw him a giant dairy party with mac-n-cheese, pizza, ice cream, milk and the works.

Now... these are just a few reason why a mom might be giving her young child a milkshake at 10 o'clock in the morning. Just a few. 


Seriously, when you have children, all those things you swore you would never do go right out the window. What's the difference between a poptart and a brownie when it comes to breakfast. And if your child will ONLY eat hotdogs, you give them hotdogs any time of day. You may have thought you would never let your kids watch TV, but for your own sanity they now enjoy Yo Gabba Gabba with the rest of the 4 year olds in America. 
Life goes on. We all make concessions.


And maybe, just maybe, you will love your child so much that the first week of summer when your child says, "Mom, I want a milkshake for breakfast," you will smile and take them out for one. Just because. Moms are cool like that.