No, I want THAT one

This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure of trying to flog (Australian slag for 'sell') a shit load of cupcakes. In case you're wondering about the actual numerical nature of "shit load," it's somewhere in the region of 1,100. On Sunday I took part in a kids' festival (which is where the bulk of the cupcakes were going to be sold) and it was fascinating to watch the behaviour of the parents. Over the course of the day, one thing became very clear - it's ADULTS who are poorly behaved, not kids.

Witness the parent who came up to the table (laden with loads and loads of kid-friendly, brightly coloured and totally drool-icious cupcakes) and spent AGES looking and commenting and asking and trying not to touch... and the kid whose eyes are bugged out of their head, mouth salivating, desperately wanting a cupcake. This same parent totally ignores their kid, and then turns and says, "Oh but you've already had your one treat of the day! Sorry!" and walks away.

Seriously. Surely that's a case for child abuse.

Or witness the parents (many of them) who offer their kid a cupcake, the kid points to the one they want, and the PARENT then spends the next 3-4 minutes pointing out all the other ones available. "Oh, Joey, what about THIS one? It has a dinosaur!" "Do you want a dinosaur? No? Okay what about a racing car? A smiley face? A pink flower? A smarties one? A coconut one? Come ON, honey, you need to decide!" Never mind that this entire time, the kid is patiently standing there, pointing to the one they want. It was quite amazing to see just how many times this same scenario played out. The damn kid already TOLD you which one they want - why are you making it so freakin' complicated?!

Or...witness the parents who think their son cannot possibly eat a pink cupcake, or their daughter can't eat the one with the sugar skull on it. Seriously? Who knew that gender rules apply to cupcakes?!

Or... the parents who haggle over the price of a handmade, gorgeous, amazing cupcake... but then happily pay $3.50 for a cup of coffee. Which is, as we all know, WATER.

Or... the parents who buy themselves a half dozen cupcakes but tell the kid, "None of these are for you!" and is deadly serious about that.

Admittedly most of the people we met were lovely, friendly, normal parents... but then it would be boring if I blogged about them, wouldn't it?

Instead I'll leave you with the tale of the parent who was angry that we did not discount the cupcakes at the end of the event - "Aren't they all stale by now anyway?" and proceeded to rant about the event itself, her sick kid, the fact that they were running late, and a whole bunch of other stuff which we neither cared to know about or needed to know.

We're all worried about the kids, when really it's the adults who need a time out.