unwanted advice

something interesting happened to me at stake conference on sunday. we had already been in the meeting for over an hour when ian discovered that his diaper was completely full. as is the case, he wanted to be changed immediately. i had left the diapers & wipes in the car, so i took him outside to get him all fixed up. after he had been changed and carted back inside, he became really really restless, wanting to take off running and other nonsense. he would not even walk and hold my hand. so i picked him up, offering to let him down as soon as he would walk and hold my hand. after two failed attempts (he threw a mini tantrum each time) he was up for a while. as i was standing there a girl i knew from our old ward was out with her youngest who is a similar age to ian. we chatted while ian squirmed a fussed a little. about this time a lady approached us and began to give (at least to me & i would imagine to both of us...) some unwanted advice. she was probably in her mid 50's with a thick spanish accent. the upshot of what she had to say was that ian had manipulated me into bringing him out in the hall and carrying him around. that basically if i would only tell him "no" and not give him everything he wanted, he would not want to be pampered by me. therefore we could have stayed in the meeting. she also said that we should do something else like "get another job" or something instead of hold our kids all the time. she then proceeded to talk about how kids in spain & mexico were so obedient and quiet during church & that here in america all the mothers were out in the hall with their children. so here is my editorial on what happened. she is entitled to her opinion. she has a valid point that mother and fathers often overindulge the children. i can't speak to the fact about how american children vs. hispanic children behave in church. if she is correct in her facts, i would put forth that neither way is necesarily better, just different. different cultures handle situations differently. i think we can learn from and appreciate those differences without saying one is "better". also, i don't have a problem with her expressing her opinion of life as she sees it. i do, however, take issue with the "finger pointing" attitude i felt from her. she really had no idea why i was in the hall. she had no idea of how ian had been behaving or what he might have done. i think i handled everything fine, and even in hindsight, i don't think i would have done anything differently. i just think she had a lack of understanding of what my situation was. despite how this post may seem, i really don't hold any hard feelings toward her. i think what she said was odd, somewhat offensive, and ill-timed. i think i'm left more stunned by it than anything else. i guess i'm just glad she said it to me instead of so many other people who might have been hurt far worse or in far deeper ways than i was.