Get Out Of My Grocery Basket and Keep Your Unsolicited Advice to Yourself

December is really beginning to grow on me. It used to be that I didn't really care for December. Too much hustle and bustle and work for me gets crazy from December to January. Running a customer service department during the holiday season is no treat. However since we've had Jack I'm starting to come around. Part of it is that December 12 is Jack's birthday so I get pumped up for that. Part of it is seeing him get so excited about the lights and such ("Big wights!"). The impetus for this post was Jack's birthday dinner and not the holidays so I'll get to it. 

We had a great birthday weekend for Jack. We had a small party at our house on Saturday with family. He got some nice gifts and had a great time with the Spider-Man theme. That kid is crazy for super heroes. Makes this comic book reading Dad proud. :) He also got to go out to Vashon and spend the night with his grandparents. They lost power so he had to sleep with them. A rare treat for him since Jack has been sleeping on his own since week two. I ran out to the island on Sunday and picked him back up. All in all a nice weekend. 

Les had to work late on Monday so it was just me and the boy and I wanted to make him one of his favorites for dinner. We needed groceries so I took Jack to the store with me to get them. Now, I always thought was the queen of strange mom encounters but they are starting to pop up a little more for me when I go out with Jack by myself. I've been hit on in the Target baby section more times than I can remember, I get weird looks when out to eat or shop with Jack, and now I'm starting to get unsolicited advice!  

Jack's favorite meal by far is breakfast. Eggs, sausage and home fries is what he would live off of if he could. So being a good Dad that's what I decided to make for dinner. In the checkout line a lady behind me commented on what she saw saying, "You're not going to make that for him for dinner are you?"

First off I was a bit taken back by a stranger asking about what's in my grocery basket, but within a second my mind shot to Kat and thought, "Ahh, it's one of the loons Kat always seems to get."

Now people that know me know that I'm generally pretty blunt. It's probably one of my best and worst traits. I'm brutally honest. It can suck for me and others, but you always know where I stand. So I said to the lady, "First off, where do you get off asking me about what's in my grocery basket? Second, it's my sons birthday and this is his favorite meal so regardless of what some strange lady may think, this is what he's having for dinner."  

I could see in her eyes that she knew she made a mistake, but I'm ruthless. She started to apologize, but before she could get it out I said, "Look I don't want to hear your meaningless apology. Next time just think before giving unsolicited advice. Have a nice night." And we left. 

I really don't get it. Unless there is some gross negligence on the part of the parent I don's say anything about what another parent is doing with their kid. What would spur someone to say something about what I'm feeding my kid?  

It's not like there was a bunch of candy and I was loudly proclaiming "I'M FEEDING CANDY TO MY BABY FOR DINNER!" I was just standing in the checkout line waiting to pay and get out of there. What do you Patchers think? Should I have been nicer to this lady? Should I have been meaner? I'd like to think I handled it OK (many not very nice things were going through my head, but I kept them to myself). What about unsolicited advice? I kind of got the feeling that the lady said something because I'm a man and she thought I didn't know what I was doing or something (hmm, that gives me a good idea for a future post). 

As always I look forward to hearing what you think in the comments. 

Last Successful Meal
Scrambled Eggs
Sausage Patty
Homefries
Applesauce

Current Favorite Books
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly by Simms Taback
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman