Dear Mike,
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By granting you an interview, the toddler’s mother was doing you a favor, and your reference to “the two-year-old screaming in the background” was a disservice to the mother and to the overall story, by giving the impression that the toddler is an incessant screamer who was rightfully expelled from the coffeehouse. The “screaming child” line was a cheap shot and probably a breach of tacit confidence with your interviewee. (In fact, the toddler lives a few doors from me, and I know her only as a well-behaved child and her parents as extremely loving, attentive, and responsible, although I’m sure everyone has their bad moments, as do we all. And while she may have been a beauty queen or cheerleader, she is now an involved community activist and a great neighbor.)
Certainly the very young are sometimes a problem in social situations–but not usually, in my experience. And when they are, we pack up pronto–no prompting required. But for those city dwellers who appreciate human diversity of all kinds, the very young often offer a unique joy and spark to everyone in their midst. However, Mr. McCauley’s store need not be part of that diversity.
