A lot of what I think is common sense has people staring in disbelief. I got chewed out by a woman at a swim meet this summer (not on our team) because I told a group of boys including her son that they could stay in the room where we were entering the meet data “if they kept their mouths shut.” They had walked in, plugged a video game into the wall, and started talking at the top of their lungs about it, oblivious to adults’ working.
“You could have said something kinder! You can’t tell children to keep their mouths shut!” Well, I didn’t ... it was a conditional, “IF they kept their mouths shut.” In retrospect, I should simply have told them they couldn’t hang out in the room.
My answer to those who took offense to my words
would have been——— “They don’t like what I said?? Tough!!”