I cannot stand some people...

[Carrie]

Originally Posted by CDSmith

Making a child wait for something actually teaches them the wonderful merits of having patience

...unless of course this moment happens to be in a store, restaurant, or other public place. Then, according to thread consensus, the child should be appeased as soon as possible in order not to disturb the other patrons.

Sin, move that "infant" mark up a bit. It's not just 6mo or less... 1 1/2 yr olds have wants and needs too that don't have a thing to do with materialism (gimme gimme I waaaaaant that).
OTOH, it's not always possible to make sure the kid is completely fed, well-rested, and in a good mood before having to go to the store to get groceries. Unfortunately these moments are more rare than not and we don't live in Utopia. Taking a moment to soothe a baby is nothing, though... the next time this happens, step up to the baby and start interacting with him/her and making comments like "awww, are you tired sweetie?". No better way to get a parent's attention; plus you might find out that said child was sound asleep just 3 minutes ago, usually sleeps straight through for another hour, but someone made a loud bang near the cart and woke the poor kid up (who has now realized he's not in his usual sleeping spot and is NOT happy about it) but he should fall back asleep in another minute or two after having an opportunity to let the world know he's not happy about not being in his own bed...

It's not always what it seems, especially when there's kids involved.