An open message to the mean lady at the grocery store:

Yes, that was my almost 2-year-old shrieking at the top of her lungs. No, I wasn't beating her or otherwise abusing her. I was making her sit in the cart while I shopped. She wanted to be carried, which would be fine, but since she is 35 pounds and I was also pushing a cart, picking up groceries, and holding the hand of my 3-year-old, I could only do that for a few minutes at a time. She also would have stopped screaming if I had let her walk. But then she would have been pulling things off the shelves faster than I could put them back up and then who would pick up my groceries and hold my 3-year-old's hand so he didn't wander off?

While I would be delighted to take credit for bringing said child to the grocery store for the sole purpose of ruining your shopping experience (and you clearly would deserve it with an attitude like yours), I actually brought her because I needed groceries. And while it would be convenient for you if I waited until my children were 18 until I go out to buy groceries, after a while we would run out of food and, if I'm not mistaken, that would constitute child neglect. Maybe I am using the wrong metric, but starving my children seems slightly worse than inconveniencing you. Please leave your grocery store schedule with me and I will try to shop at different times in the future.

End of rant. Have a nice day.