ASK AMY

In this type of situation, the very least you can do is to follow through by looking fretful and helpless, as this gentleman labors on your behalf. Pulling out a lounge chair and lazily sipping your soda while he loosens your lug nuts doesn't demonstrate quite the level of helplessness that would have made this effort more worthwhile for him.

Dear Amy:

I'm responding to the "Distraught Diner" who assumed that the parents of disruptive children in a restaurant didn't notice their behavior. Children are like little animals, and they must be constantly corrected.

When my party and I dine in restaurants, and the people with rowdy kids just ignore them, we step in and challenge their parenting skills. They either clam up or leave.

I've been in grocery stores where kids run up and down the aisles, and the parent just ignores them. I call the manager and tell him, I'm leaving the store (even though my basket is overflowing) unless he puts a stop to the disruption.

Karen Hughes

Children are not like little animals that need to be constantly corrected. They are like little people who need to be taught, praised and disciplined by attentive parents.

Write to Amy Dickinson ataskamy@tribune.comor Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.

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