mean vs end

i was at the airport earlier on and as per all weekends, there were loads of families and children. i regretted the moment i stepped in but i had no choice cos it was raining and there was hardly any other place nearby where i could get sheltered parking as i had to wheel mum.

anyway, it was after dinner and i wheeled mum around the place. there was a playground at basement 2 and as i walked through it, i heard a lady on the phone. from her tone of voice, the conversation that followed and a few subsequent chance encounters, i was able to piece together this story. the family had gone to t3 with the kids, all three of them. and somehow, the husband went to the departure hall (perhaps to the spongebob play area). along the way, the wife lost her husband and ended up with the kids at the kids playground in basement 2. and she got freaking angry. she called the husband, screamed at top of voice and demanded to know what the hell he was doing at the departure level (my guess was that she had not come to the airport for a while and didn't know about the spongebob play area). soon enough, she hung up the phone and decided to walk around basement 2. and she asked if the daughter wanted to go to the toilet, the daughter said no. but after walking a few steps, the daughter changed her mind. that did it for the mum. she burst. she scolded the girl. and as she did so, she started scolding the other 2 kids too. the young son, who didn't understand wtf happened, started throwing tantrums and threw his things onto the ground. and everyone carried a black face… it was not a good sight.

and interestingly, that was not the only depressing sight for i saw quite a few similar families behaving like that too. people screaming at each other. kids screaming and crying. arghhhh! for goodness sake, its the weekend! and i thought to myself. what's the point right? having a family outing to the airport, i assumed, was in the spirit of happiness and fun. and to allow such little things sour the whole trip seemed a little regretful. no? in the case above, why not turned the father go "missing" situation into a hide and seek or search for the missing dad adventure for the kids? need to be less pent up and more creative la. daddy is still contactable over the phone right? relax la! haiyah...

it seemed like for these families, going to the airport had become an end to itself and not a mean to spend meaningful time together… sad right?

sighs.