Screaming Kid

"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming. " -Jane Fonda

Ohhhh Lord.  Yet another playdate ruined by a screaming kid.  I am over this.

Maeve cannot play nicely with kids that shriek.  It doesn't have to be unhappy, yesterday was bombed by a happy, shrieking 9 month old who was just minding his own business, screaming happily at the top of his lungs at the Children's Museum.

I kept telling Maeve, Honey, he's allowed to do that!  But she was having none of it, and kept up her tears until we actually left the building and got in the car.  She wanted to be sure we were good and away from the kid before she let her guard down.  Luckily, the kid we were actually having a playdate with was not a screamer, so we can try and play someplace else.

I worry sometimes that Maeve is somehow too sheltered because she is not in preschool or any other activities, that this is why she is so sensitive to other kids screaming, but after having talked to other moms, I am assured it's just an individual temperament kind of thing.  Some kids can handle the high-pitched noise, some kids cannot.

What's funny is that Maeve is not immune to screaming, when she gets excited, she can squeal with the best of them.  Which doesn't seem to bother her.  Go figure.  I actually have one friend whose 2 year old screams so much that I have simply stopped arranging playdates until he gets a little more self-control when he gets older.  This family, inevitably, is the closest to our house of any friends with kids that we know.

I do try to make Maeve stick it out, and I always have hope that the perpetrator will find some other vocal exercise, so I kept her a little while yesterday at the museum after the screaming incident, but she was inconsolable.  Sorry little K, we'll try to play again soon.

Note the look of concern.  The shrieking had just begun.