I've done a lot of tourist-y travelling. Granted, it's been to touristy
places, but it includes NY City subway stations and a lot of places which
seemed to have included a wide slice of the American demographic. I didn't
think I needed to "get out more."

Anyway, we're driving down the eastern seaboard, and stop in Dover,
Delaware, at a pizza restaurant that is on an eight-lane highway full of
stoplights, in an ugly place with about a mile of concrete for shopping
malls on either side of the road.  While we were eating, I was notably
upset at the babies crying. It sounded like the plaintive wails of
neglected children, about 3 in the place. I was spooked or creeped out
after a while and still am when I think about it.

My wife wondered if it were merely my prejudice at those from a lower
socioeconomic status. Maybe so, but I thought I'd been around, and just
exactly how poor can you be and still take your family out to eat?  Our son
is far from perfect in sociability or manners, but he KNOWS how to behave
in a restaurant. Since he was 18 months we'd gotten compliments on his
behavior.  Partly due to pure empathy and letting him know there are things
we have zero tolerance for. 

So, is babies-wailing a cultural thing?  If you go to restaurants in
different corners of Europe or Asia (or the world), is wailing the norm in
some parts?  Or does it take a lot of disposable income & time to keep
snacks and toys ready for a kid the moment he peeps?   Or can there be
geographic concentrations of actual indifference to babies' well-being?

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