Cry baby

Not me lar, the baby next door. The little tyke hasn't stoppped crying for the last half an hour. I don't understand how such a small package can produce so much noise pollution. Its driving me nuts.

If there's one thing I salute about women, it is their ability to handle a crying baby and not pull their hair out in frustration. Without them, I have no doubt mankind would have gone extinct long ago.

But what is it about babies that make them cry so much? Oops, wrong question. Let me rephrase. Why can't they stop?

Is it because they immediately shut off their microphones (ears) when they turn up their loudspeakers? How come when they start, no amount of soft talk from their mothers would make it stop? (Actually I know some grown-ups who are like that too.)

No, actually I do understand why babies cry. When you're at an age when you haven't learned to speak, who can blame you for voicing your discomfort in other ways. But what I cannot stand are the irresponsible parents who don't give a shit about other people when their kids make an ass of themselves.

Here's what I mean by irritating parents.

1. Parents on a plane who'll do nothing as their baby cries non-stop for 2 hours, and I mean not even holding their child as it screams its tiny lungs out.

2. Parents who bring their crying baby into a packed cinema, thinking that a Rm10 ticket gives them the right to destroy half the house's movie experience with their little boom box.

3. Parents who don't clean up after their baby makes a mess in a public place.

4. Parents who don't care to apologize when their baby spills stuff on other people. On a flight to HK once, I saw a struggling baby accidentally kick a meal off a tray table onto someone's lap. The mother didn't so much as apologize to the man.

5. Parents who scream at or humiliate their kids in public.

Luckily I haven't met many of them but for the irresponsible few who don't know how to be parents or don't want to be parents, can someone please do us a favour and tell them to go get sterilized.