I need help. Help in understanding what I saw the other day at Southbridge Mall in Mason City on Tuesday, July 15. 
    I was at the food court in the mall the other day, enjoying my sub sandwich with my wife, when a lady – maybe 42ish – and her 14ish and 16ish-year-old daughters sat down ahead of me with a baby in a baby crib/carrier. I assumed the baby belonged to one of the daughters who was with the mommy, but as I will explain later, I was wrong on that guess.
    The daughters went to get in line, meanwhile the mommy spreads out a blanket on the table in the food court and changes the baby's diaper. Then, she laid the dirty, rolled up diaper on the next UNCOVERED table until the daughter came back from the food line and tossed it in the trash can. Quite frankly, it made me gag.
    While the two daughters ate, the mommy breast fed the child under a blanket – the same one that the baby was changed on. That's how I knew the 42ish-year-old mommy was the mommy. I am not against the breastfeeding of that child, BUT, am I so far removed from child rearing that changing a baby in the mall food court is acceptable?
    The reason I'm writing this in your paper is these people, from what I could tell by the logos on all of their shirts, were from New Hampton.
    I should have said something, but figured the janitor or food court attendant would – but they didn't.
    Is this now acceptable or is this something moms do nowadays instead of taking the baby to the restroom where they have baby changing stations (and they DO in this mall)?
    Like I said, I need help ... help to wrap my brain around this one.

Patrick Palmer
Hampton