mom's revenge

As I told you yesterday, the boys regularly act poorly in public.  SJ's tantrums are his way to embarrass me.  Bob tends to be mouthy and argumentative in public.  The boys had spent the evening at my parents' house and then we met my mom for lunch the next day.  After lunch, I had to run a few errands.  We had to go to Wal-Mart for two errands.  First, SJ needed to have his new glasses tightened.  I don't know if the boys were tired or just wanted to go home.  Either way, all the good behavior we saw in the restaurant had disappeared.  Bob started to complain in the vision center.  He didn't want to be there and was being very impatient.  We weren't there long (maybe 15 minutes) and then headed to the grocery area.  I needed some deli meats.  We were waiting in line when the complaining started again.  Both boys were whining that they didn't want to be there.  Bob said, "I don't want to be here.  I am not having fun."  SJ added, "I just want to go home."  I told them both that I didn't want to be there either, but we had things to get.  I told them that every minute of every day is not supposed to be fun-packed (although it would be nice!).  I noticed that the other shoppers were listening to this conversation.  There were two ladies around my mom's age and a much older gentleman.  I asked the one lady, "Excuse me, Mam.  Are you having any fun here?"  She replied, "No.  As a matter of fact, I am not having fun."  I then asked the gentleman if he was having fun.  He simply shook his head.  I said to the boys, "See no one is having fun, but we all have things to get.  Life can't always be fun."  Just then, Bob comes over to me looking very red in the face.  He said with a partially closed mouth, "Mom, I can't believe you just embarrassed me like that."  I told him now he will know how I feel when he embarrasses me.  The third lady then said to me, "It gets better, honey."  I replied, "People keep telling me that and I am still waiting."  My hope is now that the boys know I will embarrass them if they can't control their public behavior.  I will heed that lady's advice and keep waiting for it to get better.