Miss Manners vs the Beluga Whale

Do you know what makes two four year olds and a two and a half year old belly-laugh like little hyena’s? Apparently it’s a beluga whale pooping. I’m not kidding. I like to think I have raised my children with a little more couth than that, however, seeing a beluga whale poop at the Georgia Aquarium last week forced my children, along with my dear nephew, to throw all manners and good breeding to the whale sharks, and laugh and giggle and point and exclaim for ALL to hear, in the middle of the Beluga Whale presentation, as they were conveniently standing right next to the Aquarium representative wearing the microphone. It was at that point that I was fed a little humility myself, and reminded that no matter how well your children may be dressed, and no matter how crisp and white those white summer polo sneakers are, if a whale poops, they’re probably going to laugh for everyone at the entire Aquarium to hear.

I don’t quite know what Emily Post would have to say about this, and I don’t even know where to begin to look it up under etiquette, but I do believe that a new chapter on “taking your children to the zoo or aquarium” should be included, or, for the sake of arguing, we could just title the chapter “Miss Manners Explains that Everybody Poops.”So what’s been your dose of humility lately?