Should Children Be Seen and Not Heard?

As I’ve recently started working part-time out of my home, I have explored nearly all methods of entertaining my infant and toddler.  One of my favorites is the library. It’s close, it’s convenient and best of all, it’s free.

But, I have had two recent run-ins in the children’s book section that baffle me.  Both times, my toddler was fully supervised, working on the library’s puzzles and speaking in a normal (not screaming) voice.  Note that the children's section is on its own floor of the library, with its own computers.

On one occasion, an adult left the computer area next to our table, removed her belongings and walked away.  My daughter walked over and sat in front of the computer inquisitively.  As soon as she did, the adult walked back over from talking with the librarian and chastised her loudly stating she was not finished.  If she’d nicely asked her if she could finish, it wouldn’t have bothered me, but she was taking my daughter to task.  I had also thought she was finished.  I told her not to speak to my daughter that way.

The second occasion occurred this week, when a man sat in the children’s section at the computers, which are near the aforementioned puzzles.  As my daughter asked me, “What’s this?” about a word on a puzzle piece, he turned to us and gave a loud, harsh, “Shhhh!”  I stood up and told him that he was in the children’s section and that he had no right to say that to her.

I realize that the library is for everyone and that it’s a rather pensive and quiet place. But if you are in the children’s section and your children are enjoying the entertainment that is there for them (big fish tanks, puzzles, stuffed animals, plush animals to sit on and coloring), do you think children need to be entirely silent?  And, how do you feel, in general, about other adults, who are strangers to you and to them, chastising your children who are under your supervision?