My son isn't really "acting out" in my opinion. He just throws fits and he does things that he doesn't understand that he shouldn't do (like putting things in his mouth that he shouldn't or drawing on the wall, etc). And I couldn't comprehend why my "friend" just said that out of no where, when my son wasn't crying or anything. My "friend" (I use the quotes, bc I can't believe that a true friend would tell someone to beat their child) told me he was hit a lot as a child after I told him that my husband and I don't believe in spanking. I told him this to begin with, because at 13 months old, my son was trying to play with my laptop and took one of the keys off while I was on the phone with my "friend" and he told me to spank him. This whole time when I would hang out with him always with my son (I still have yet to let anyone else watch my son, bc of my trust issues, anyway, since I'm married, I wouldn't go hang out with a male by myself), I noticed his reaction when my son cried. And I knew that if he had children he would beat them, based on his reaction. He would just freak out, tell me to pick up my son, and that I need to take him home.

I remember seeing a Steve Wilko's show when my son was only 1 month old. At that time I had post-partum depression and was also still recovering from the birth and I laid in bed with my son all day and watched mostly 48 hours and Steve Wilko's, which probably only intensified my distrust for anyone else watching my son. Anyway, Steve Wilko's was talking to a man that broke his 4 month-old's arms, because he couldn't get the baby to stop crying. And Steve Wilko's said "Babies cry". That's all I really remember, but after that I watched people's reactions to my son crying and could spot the ones that couldn't handle it.

Anyway, that day, my friend took us shopping, and my son didn't want to stay in the cart and he was crying. So I let him out to run around (it was a pretty small store). But he was grabbing things to play with and running everywhere and my friend thought he was acting terrible. My son was also tired and very hungry. It was about 5 and he had only eaten breakfast. We hardly had anyway food at the house, that's why we went shopping.

My father (my abuser) also took us out a while ago to eat dinner (that's rare), but he thought my son was "acting up" at the resturant, because he didn't want to sit in a high chair doing nothing for half an hour while we waited for our food.

My son does say a lot of words. He's learning at least two a day now and he does make a couple up to three word sentences, but crying is still a way he communicates. And I realize that he is expressing his emotions and needs. I don't want him not to. Thank you all for elightening me as to why my "friend's" friend's child does not cry as much, it makes perfect sense.