Them there's fightin' words

Today was the day of many birthdays...the first party was at a park in the sweltering heat and included 2 carousel rides and a boat ride. The second party was at someone's house in the pouring rain, no rain, then light showers. Kudos to both sets of parents for dealing with the weather conditions given to them, as neither were desirable for having 15-20 kids plus parents.

Since both parties were for daycare friends, several kids attended both parties. Evan took a nap between, but clearly this was not the case for some of the other kids (there was a 3rd party that we did not attend, and that was definitely the right call). Anyway, there were some tantrums to be expected at the second party, but actually things went pretty well. Except for one scenario.

Ethan and I are talking to the mom of a kid who no longer attends Evan's daycare--Mom decided to stay home and has him in a part-time gig somewhere else. Her son, to be honest, is not the best behaved and she doesn't really seem to have any control over him. He has an older and younger sister who are both lovely, but this kid is just not very well-behaved, so not sure where the problem is...might just be the way he is.

So Problem Kid is sitting at a table near us with Whiny Kid. Whiny Kid is, well, whiny. He had 3 tantrums at the FIRST birthday party. He has a long drawn out whining crying tantrum pretty much every time I see him in some sort of situation where he has to interact (ie share) with other children. Not that my kids are sunshine and roses all the time, but they're more likely to get ticked off and storm off then they are to cry at the top of their lungs for an extended period of time when they aren't getting their way.

So Problem Kid and Whiny Kid are sitting at a table together and I see Whiny Kid call his mother over and start pointing at Problem Kid and going on about something. I didn't actually see what happened, but my guess is Problem Kid instigated something and Whiny Kid overreacted. If I had to guess. Whiny Kid's mom turns to Problem Kid and proceeds to tell him that he is "not nice" and "mean" and "not a good person." She then moves Whiny Kid to the other end of the table to move him away from "that mean boy." Seriously?!?! If I ever heard a grown up addressing my 4/5 yo in that manner, well, you better clear the kids out, because this would not be a good example of how to handle yourself like a grown up.

I nudged Problem Kid's mom and suggested she might want to see what was going on, which she did. I didn't catch the details, but I'm willing to bet Whiny Kid's mom did NOT repeat the words she had been so comfortably blasting off 2 minutes earlier. Seriously lady, I know it's been a long day with all the birthday parties, but if you can't control YOURSELF, then stay home. Or send dad to the party!!