A parenting debate of sorts recently erupted on social media – Facebook, to be exact – and caught the eye of the mainstream media.  

Tara Carson, her husband, and their 21-month-old daughter stopped to eat at Marcy’s Diner in Portland, Maine.  The diner was busy, they had to wait a while to be seated and served, and during this time period their daughter was (loudly, it seems) fussing.

That didn’t go over well with the diner’s owner.

From the Washington Post (an op-ed by Carson):

Out of nowhere, Marcy’s Diner owner Darla Neugebauer threw to-go containers at my husband and yelled, ‘Either she goes or you go!’….

I continued feeding my child because the food was finally on the table. A few minutes later, Neugebauer, now behind the grill, slammed her hands on the counter. She pointed at my baby’s face and screamed, ‘You need to shut the hell up!’

The family left shortly after.

But it didn’t end there.

From ABC News:

[Carson] also commented about the experience on Marcy Diner's Facebook page, including the comment, ‘You have a problem with a child crying then you are not suitable to run a business.’….

Neugebauer responded to that post with profanities including, ‘After your 4th attempt to shut her up I asked you to pack up either your rotten child or take the so important pancakes to go... but NNNNOOOOOOO you just sit there & let your [expletive] screaming kid go and piss off my staff and my patrons!’….

Neugebauer wrote on the diner's Facebook page early Wednesday morning, ‘Wow! Who knew calling out sh**** parenting made you a bully? Whatever. For the record! I'm a foul-mouthed b**** with a short fuse! Sarcastic, blunt, brutally honest & real.’

My take: the parents were inconsiderate toward the other patrons by not quickly leaving when their child began fussing (and apparently kept it up).  However, the owner’s behavior was appalling and inexcusable.

A pox on both their houses – but more so on the diner’s owner.

It must also be said that some of the comments directed at the mother have been downright nasty and, well, Planned Parenthood-like.

For example, there was this comment made by “TheSpoon” at the ABC News website: “People with kids under five need to accept their fate. You do not exist socially and no one wants to be around your brats. Stay at home where you belong and leave us to enjoy the planet in peace until your kids can control themselves.”

And we wonder why our culture has become so desensitized to the evils of abortion and child abuse…