Mothers, don't do this.

I'm sitting in Panera Bread Company and I just witnessed something that I have a feeling happens more often than not.

So, I'm sitting in my favorite little corner booth, and there's a mother, her son, and her daughter in the booth across the way from me. The son looks to be around 10 years old, and the daughter looks about 4 years old. As I sit down, I don't really notice them, other than I saw the mother get up to get her food and then come back. After some time of me eating, and them eating, I hear a commotion. The mother is yelling at the son and jerking his fork out of his hand. "If you want to finish your salad, then you have to scrape the bowl!!!" And she shows him how quite forcefully, then returns the fork to him. Apparently he did not do it as she would have liked him to, because once again she's ripping the fork out of his hand to show him how to properly eat his salad. After a while, they both give up and decide it's time to go home. As they're getting up to leave, the mother jerks him out of the booth by the arm and says rather loudly, "You're a disgrace!"


I wanted to get up and tell her that he's a child, and he shouldn't be forced to eat SALAD. Also, that he should be able to eat any way he wants as long as the food is getting into his mouth.

So parents, should children be punished like this for not eating salad "correctly"? Is there a correct way to eat salad?
My only advice is not to punish your children out in public. It's a lot cuter to see a family eating together in whichever way they like to eat than for a mom to be ruining someone else's meal by yelling at her children.


Oh and by the way. The little girl was an angel and hardly talked at all.