weren't there any other grown-ups around, and wouldn't one just automatically come over to a screaming kid and help him?

and what's wrong with the kid that he couldn't root around in his own backpack and find the snack?

plus having the backpacks driven over rather than the kids carrying them -- god, this whole scenario is so creepy, so hyper-controlled and rigid.

I was kinda wondering that myself. Why wouldn't another mother take 20 seconds to help a child in distress? Maybe the other moms really dislike EB and/or her son and that is the real reason Simon is freaking out. Young kids are really perceptive. When I was 8, I once had an overly defensive SAHM call me a latch key kid to my face. After the 5th or so time she told me she wouldn't leave her kids alone, I told her I wouldn't leave HER kids alone either, since they were destructive little brats.