It's irritating when people are rude when using your phones, but I saw something worse than rude in an airport recently.

It was lunchtime on a Saturday. A couple was in a restaurant, each of them staring down into their phones. At their table, their one-year-old baby waved his arms and looked from one to the other, trying to socialize. They ignored him completely.

Finally my husband said "Hi!" to him in that special way we use for babies. The baby riveted his gaze on us, and we played and talked to him. The parents NEVER EVEN NOTICED any of this.

Later I told this story at church and got two comments. A preschool teacher said that one can skate right by the period when a child learns to socialize. It doesn't last forever.

Somebody else remarked that it would be easy to pick the baby up and go off with him.