The Brange had their kids out all weekend in England. Something about a puppet show, then there was a bike ride, they hit up a performance of Shrek, and today the Jolie and her girls Miss Zahara and Shiloh dropped in on a toy store. As you can see, The Chosen One is going through a tongue phase. Sticking it out at people. The photographers? Her mother meanwhile just needs to hustle them into the car. Get in the car. Let me clench smile my way to the car. I’ve heard from many moms out there who know the expression. When you’re managing multiple children and just need to make it behind closed doors, hoping that nothing more than a scowl or a sticking out of a tongue goes down in public.

Last week at the airport I saw a woman coping through a colossal meltdown. The boy looked about 5. And she had just taken away a toy that he was using to smack other people sitting in the lounge. I, along with three or four others, was one of the victims. He swatted at my laptop. There followed a kick at her arm. At which point I saw her face. I mean, she wanted to get real with him right there. But then, of course, she couldn’t. Because she was being judged by a couple hundred people watching how she’d handle the situation, thinking to themselves that her son was a terrorist, comparing him to every other well behaved child in the vicinity, and of course ready at a moment’s notice to label her a horrible person if she dealt with him too harshly.

Please consider this my salute to the parents. It’s a monumental task, raising your babies in the hopes that they’ll become polite and productive citizens one day, and then on top of that doing it while everyone, like gossip bitches and bloggers, has an opinion on how that should happen. Even with all that money, and the access, and help, for a few short moments a day, even Angelina Jolie has to go through that too.


Photos from Flynetonline.com and Splashnewsonline.com