“I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I WANT MY POCKET MONEY
I…WANT…MY….POCKET…MONEY
[sniff]
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I WANT MY POCKET MONEY
I want my pocket money NOW
Give me my pocket money
Give me my pocket money
Give me my pocket money
GIVE ME MY POCKET MONEY NOW
I want my pocket money
[sniff]
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I want my pocket money
I…. WANT….. MY…. POCKET….. MONEY
I want my pocket money
[sniff, howl]
I want my pocket money
I WANT MY POCKET MONEY
I…. WANT…. my…. POCKET MONEY!!!!”

This half hour performance (by a snot-streaming, red-faced eight year old boy) was experienced while wandering around the Earth From The Air exhibition outside the Natural History Museum in the chilly dusk.

His mother was ignoring him. The rest of us weren’t so lucky.

Update:
Some people have interpreted the above as scorn or disgust at the mother’s/boy’s behaviour. Let me clarify:

I wasn’t riled by the child. I’ll admit that the constant screaming was sort of offputting, but I wasn’t particularly bothered by its behaviour - I know that kids are kids and will behave like kids, even in a supposedly adult setting. Kids screaming in restaurants are less tolerable than kids screaming in museums, but kids scream and turn red and have tantrums. That’s what they do. It’s not reasonable or considerate, but they’re *kids*, for Pete’s sake, so they can hardly be expected to act with cquiet consideration, especially when 90% of adults don’t bother.

What some interpreted as my disgust was actually amazement at how the mother could seemingly ignore her bawling son - not disgust, not outrage, not scorn, none of that.

Having lived with and cared for small children for a living, I’m well aware that sometimes, parents or caregivers need to remain rigid against a tantrum, even though their innate feeling is to solve or fix it. If a child is set to scream until it gets its own way, the gut response is to give in to stop it screaming. I know that, and I’ve dealt with it many many times.

The mother at the museum was somehow able to calmly ignore the child’s screaming, and continue to point out interesting parts of the pictures, trying to engage the child’s attention rather than respond to the tantrum with words or a smack.

Maybe she was embarrassed and humiliated, but she didn’t show it - she dealt with the situation with quiet calm, as if she’d been through it a hundred times before.

The reason this situation acts as a contraceptive is because that’s something I don’t think I could do. I don’t think I’m ready to ignore a screaming child. I don’t know if I’d be able to deal with the situation as calmly and confidently as the mother at the museum. I’d want to give in, to make the screaming go away, to avoid the humiliation. Short term solutions R us.