Tantrums : An anecdote

Three of us met after a long time the other day. One of my friends had dark circles under her eyes and she was visibly tired. Her kid was in the 'terrible twos' bracket. Over an Aztec coffee (she had 2 espresso shots), this friend of mine was discussing her kid's tantrums. ' He refuses to eat and wants to be out all day long! Now how can I keep taking him out all the time??? He know how to count, but will repeat numbers backwards because he doesn't want to, and because it makes me mad! He refuses to sleep at night, saying he wants to play ball!!! At 3 am at night!' At this another friend remarked, "I am lucky, I have a dog! Feed it, walk it, forget it. Obedient to the core, and extremely loving. Tantrums? How do you spell tantrums?", she said with a look of morbid triumph, as she sipped her iced tea.

Not having had a chance to experience either case, I kept quiet. But i began to wonder - 'why do kids throw a tantrum? They don't see either parent stamping their feet, or making asinine demands, or refusing to eat or sleep or engaging in any such mindless activity. So where do they learn the fine art of tantrumming and making parents' life hell????' I started homeward, lost in such thoughts. I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green. Drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, I absently stared outside. A lady was crossing the massive road with a dog on a leash. The huge road was split into a two-way road by means of a divider. Both sides of the traffic were waiting for the light to turn green. She crossed half the road and reached the divider. She had a bulky shopping bag in one hand and the leash in the other. She started to get off the divider island and on to the road, and suddenly her canine refused to budge. She tugged at the leash. It didn't swerve an inch. She called out to it - Lenny, Minnie, something. Uh-huh - no movement. She bent down and spoke to it. 30 seconds on the signal timer. By the looks of it, the dog was a grown Pomeranian. She called to it again, but the dog refused to move. Finally in a wave of exasperation, she swooped the dog up like a child, and quickly rushed across the road.

And I thought - Tantrums ? They're in the air on earth.............