I just got the grin. You know the one. A small child is doing something annoying/gross/dangerous/inappropriate and you look at his or her mother or father and they just grin. I’m sitting in the hospital with a very sick relative and a toddler is running up and down the hallway yelling. I looked out and saw his moo standing there doing nothing to stop it and there it was. I was not making a happy face at her. Why, oh, why do they do it? It made me want to trip the kid and return the smile.

The hospital i work at recently located my department to a supplemental building across the street where there's *much* more room. It's spacious enough to hold functions in the entryway behind some partitions. We regularly get a Moo Group meeting there *eyeroll*.

I'm not sure what the point of it is. It looks to be a bunch of moos sitting around on cushions with their recently expelled larvae talking about how great they are (?).

I work behind a locked door, but I have to go through the entryway to get to bathrooms or the kitchen. I am super busy at work right now and was trying to get to the kitchen and back *quickly* yesterday but got stuck behind some moo in her Han Solo outfit carrying a vagturd in its carrier s l o w l y out the door. She had strapped a saccharine-ly adorable lil' snowman hat on its head and was most likely fishing for gooey exclamations of rapture from me -_- . When I got *back* from the kitchen there was a toddle-derp wandering wherever it wanted beyond the partition being a pest and it's moo was wandering after it doing the "I'm gonna get you!" BS. This, of course, delighted the pest and it started doing that squeal-from-hell thing. I muttered a " Jeeeezus! " as I passed, but I doubt anyone heard me :/

I've stopped trying to be polite to these idiots. When their kids start in and they do fuck-all about it i give them a look like they just shit on the floor.

Always thought of the grin as meaning they realize their brat is being a total asshole in public but we've all been there so smile back to let moo/duh know you sympathize. No, it involves a series of bad choices to "be there" and not everyone makes those choices. Expecting sympathy from strangers instead of doing something about the brat is one of the bad choices.

Also noticed parents who do something about their kid's behavior never give those looks, they're too busy parenting to expect sympathy.

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freya
Also noticed parents who do something about their kid's behavior never give those looks, they're too busy parenting to expect sympathy.

Amen to that.

I agree that the stupid smile is because they know their kid is being a horror, but I think they're trying to PROMPT you to smile back and agree, yes, kids are like that, rather than expecting them to do some damn parenting. They're trying to defuse the situation before they're expected to actually put in effort.

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stillwaters

I've stopped trying to be polite to these idiots. When their kids start in and they do fuck-all about it i give them a look like they just shit on the floor.

Jesus I wish I could be a fly on the wall when you do this!

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Passive Aggressive
Master Of Anti-brat
Excuses!

I've noticed that grin too. If someone's kid is being an asshole and you make any sort of eye contact with them, you get one or two non-verbal responses: the grin that is mentioned here, or the stink eye. The dumbass breeder grin is just their way of saying, "Ohhh, kids will be kids! You know how it goes!" and expecting everyone else to be okay with their brat being a total piece of shit and them doing fuck all about it. And of course the stink eye is them immediately getting defensive because you're noticing their demonspawn and they see eye contact as you judging them for their obviously stellar parenting.

This is why I don't make eye contact with breeders or their mongrels. They either expect me to sympathize and tolerate their shit, or they're ready for someone to look at them wrong so they can unsheath their "mama bear claws" because they hate everything and want a punching bag. I just sit quietly and hope the breeder, brat, or both have an aneurysm right then and there so they shut the hell up.