On Monday, July 27, 2015 at 4:25:07 AM UTC-7, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 7/27/2015 7:00 AM, wrote:
> > On Sun, 26 Jul 2015 23:40:09 -0500, MaryL
> > > wrote:
>
> >> Afterward, my father was very proud and told us that someone had stopped
> >> by their booth to tell them "what nice children they had." I did not
> >> understand it at the time because all we did was eat and talk. I was 12
> >> years old at the time and my brother and sister were younger. Years
> >> later, I understood why those people thought we were being so nice...the
> >> fact that we were only eating and talking and enjoying ourselves was
> >> exactly what they appreciated. I think people today would not find it
> >> unpleasant to have children seated in a restaurant if parents would only
> >> teach them to act as we did that day--something that was perfectly
> >> natural to us.
>
> We didn't go out to restaurants very often, but the idea that we'd
> run around raising a ruckus is laughable. I don't remember being
> taught restaurant manners, but my brothers and I knew we'd better
> behave.

My sister and I seem to have been tolerably behaved, but my brother
was subject to tantrums. He would work himself into states where
NOTHING would make him happy. My mother would take him (or all of us)
out of the store, restaurant, church, etc. Finally he grew out of it,
but he has always been a self-willed person.

I remember him once shrieking at our grandparents house, because we
were taking family photos in the front yard, and for some reason,
he REALLY didn't feel like posing.

Many times my mother clearly seemed to be hoping the earth would
open and swallow us up.