The hostess at that Thai restaurant sounded perfectly awful (“A plea for some singular sensitivity,” June 4), with an almost psychopathic need to know where Daddy was. We home-school and have similar comments thrown at us as we go about our business in the world during school hours. “No school today?” Some people are taking this “It takes a village to raise a child” business too far. I also think it’s a hangover from too many self-relevant talk shows where people blather on about intimate personal details and now feel entitled to ask anyone they please anything they please. It’s a total lack of manners any way you look at it.
— Maureen O’Grady
Michele Weldon’s essay points out the rude, simplistic remarks people make to this very complete family but misses the larger truth: Rude, stupid people can be counted on to make rude, stupid remarks to everyone, regardless of their personal circumstances.
The lady at our local convenience store must be the Queen Mother of these Clueless Wonders. I can’t purchase anything without her trying to evaluate it. I buy candy for the six children in my house and she says, “Going to the movies?” I buy two jugs of milk and she says, “Wow. That’s a lot of milk. How can you drink so much?”
But the best was the day I bought American cheese, margarine and a loaf of bread. “Havin’ a grilled-cheese party?” she asked brightly. A grilled-cheese party? What?! Maybe shindigs like that are something people from her planet indulge in. The sad part is I feel required to mutter some kind of answer to these inanities.
For every remark the rude hostess bothered Ms. Weldon with, believe me she has dumped a hundred more on everyone unlucky enough to meet her. The mature mother who is called “Grandma,” the physically challenged who are shouted at in a sing-song, no one is immune to them.
But they make really funny stories, don’t they?
— Cathy Crawford, Lindenhurst
BUT MAYBE NOT
What is Michele Weldon’s problem? I think she is being overly sensitive about something that probably happened to her one or two times. It would certainly be a sorry world when being without “Daddy” is considered the norm.
I have gone out with my children many times and have never had anyone ask about the whereabouts of Daddy. Where does she dine?
I think she was desperate for column material and was looking for something — anything — to write about. Maybe it would be better if she just ordered out.
— Judy Sterchele, Plainfield
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UP NEXT
Do you think dads are scaling back their work hours to leave more time for hands-on parenting?
BACKGROUND: A fatherhood survey by BabyCenter.com (http://www.babycenter.com/fatherhood) found that almost a third of the dads said they had scaled back their office hours in favor of more family time; only 20 percent of mothers recognized that same commitment.
