Effing kids in the library

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I miss the bus, it is too cold to hang about waiting for the next one, I decide to go into the nearby library for a bit of peace and quiet and warmth, and what do I get? A load of f*****g noisy squealing 2-year-olds running around near me. It's a LIBRARY for f***s sake, it's meant to be a quiet place, but I suppose rules don't apply to the darling little children, because they "don't know any better", well that's no f*****g excuse in my book (no pun intended). If kids make too much noise in a public library the parents should be asked to leave, simple as that. Oh, the horrible shrieks really hurt my ears.

Yep I hear you joe 90, I was happy to see the back of the school holidays this week specially on the train coming home from work in the early evenings the train carriage would turn into almost some kind of zoo/circus for an hour coming away from london even with my ear plugs in I could not sleep.Yesterday afternoon I was treated to two young sisters who screamed and shouted as they played on the train at a level you could hear at the other end of the carriage whilst there mother just sat there with her feet on the seat playing on her phone not telling them to behave once.Some older woman sitting behind shhh them and the mother snapped don't you shh my kids.These people make me sick no consideration for other people and in their mind it's just them and their precious darlings.iwould feel embarrassed/ashamed if i had kids acting this way like it was a bad reflection on me also,but this attitude seems to exist less and less now and manners are a dieing art.

I just think small children should be taught that libraries are supposed to be quiet places. The parents of the ear-splitting brats in the library were just letting their kids run around without no boundaries or anything. I tell you, saying "ssshhh" to a toddler often works. These toddlers weren't having tantrums, they were just running all around the library screaming loudly out of joy, and the mothers looked oblivious to where their kids were and what they were doing. It was very frustrating, and to sit there and keep my cool took as much energy as running a marathon. I had to remove myself from the library and wait outside in the cold, just because people can't control their brats.

Our librarians complain that parents dump the kids in front of TVs with DVDs, and then go shopping for a few hours. Expecting the librarians to babysit. The kids don't sit quiet or even sit.

I agree completely, Joe90. Libraries are supposed to be quiet, and there is nothing wrong with shushing the toddlers and if that fails, tell the parents they need to leave.
Kids need to learn that the world is not their playground.

It's annoying in grocery stores too, the way parents allow kids to run around with their mini shopping carts, and not seldom ramming them into people. Stores are not playgrounds. Earlier generations managed just fine to go shopping with their parents without running around.

It's also appalling how some even would let their kids climb tomb stones in cemeteries. The stones have to be secured these days so they won't fall over when the "little darlings" climb on them. It's such a lack of respect that I can't even.

The same is all true in book stores. The adults who are supposed to help raise such children seem bent on raising a small collection of louts, instead. These kids will grow up too ignorant to understand manners or success.

But, I don't care so much about the future generations as much as my own fleeting moments of solitude inside the context of social environments like libraries and book stores.

The OP is spot on with her observations about libraries in the UK. In the one I use most frequently, there are often small kids running around everywhere, and older kids (and sometimes adults) talking loudly or even shouting in the computer area. The staff refuse to intervene, and when questioned about this they've made it clear that their bosses in the Local Authority want to make these places more 'inclusive' and regard notions such as 'silence in the library' as old-fashioned or even discriminatory and authoritarian. LOL.

Walkman is still a brand and IMO a decent Ipod alternative.

The parents ought to have better control of their kids. It is a pain when they make excessive noise and run around unheeding. Some of the bigger kids could easily knock a person over.

I had a belly full with under 4's yesterday (no, I didn't eat them, it's just a figure of speech), first the ones in the library, then there was one screaming at nothing whilst waiting for the bus, then there seemed to be a lot of baby-talk on the bus. But I went to see an adult movie with my boyfriend last night, and it was so nice to actually be somewhere in public without the chance of people having toddlers with them. That was the first time that day I actually got to enjoy myself in public.

Shrieking kids and babies crying is one of my biggest sensory issues. I get so upset and uncomfortable, and when you're in a place where you can't leave (like on a bus), it's just horrible. I just have to cover my ears, grin and bear it. The parents don't take into consideration that there are people who cannot tolerate those horrible sounds that their children make...

Hypercoaster,

I agree. I don't mind normal hustle and bustle and conversation, but the screaming, running around and other behaviors just drive me nuts. I also have a problem with adults who come in the library having loud, nasty fights. People curse at each other and call each other nasty names and act as if they are going to get into a knockdown, drag out physical fight as well.