Nice, see that that's much better than a one-word snark. We can open a dialog.

I'd say that after raising two, and the youngest only being a handful of years since todler-dom, (and my eldest having spectrum issues), I still feel the pain and confusion, and we even had to seek professional help for the eldest. I've actually had training of how to deal with the situations for a child that had real emotional problems.

Judgemental and out of touch.

Yet there you are judging me, betting I don't have kids, then moving the posts to I don't have young kids right now.

Let's disassemble my post:

Hard to tell from so little info.

It's literally one person's memory about a guy carrying a toddler throwing a full-on fit through a parking lot. Zero context. But you don't generally carry them distance while they're throwing the fit, you remove them from the situation, get them someplace quiet and work with them. 9:10 times they're just tired and you can calm them and not carry them while they're screaming enough that you're scared someone is going to call the authorities.

You can make a kid act like that by being a shitty parent, but they can also have issues unbidden that stretch you past your breaking point.

I didn't lay blame at the guys feet, I said he might have been stretched thin. That's not really out of touch by my standards.

In any case, they don’t seem to have a healthy relationship.

If you're calling your toddler an asshole in public to other strangers, whom you're worried about the impression they have, that's clearly not healthy. You can call that judgmental if you'd like, but I can also give you the number of a doctor who will tell you the same.

Now, let's disassemble your post:

Yes, there is a point I’m trying to make, which is it’s intrinsic to the human condition to paint a much rosier version of your own childrearing experiences once they’re historical.

That's a great goalpost move. You can disagree with me all you want, but this take is just bad out of context.

The internet is awash with new parents wildly frustrated with how incredibly out-of-touch the platitudes they hear about their experience even coming from other older parents.

Yes, new parents are wildly frustrated that someone tells them what they're doing is wrong because it seems like a personal attack. It's not. They survived and are offering how they did it, maybe the advice applies, maybe it doesn't, everyone situation is different.

Your original comment is just that. Judgemental and out of touch.

If you're going to call every parent who doesn't have a 2-3 year-old out of touch, that's another hot take. If everyone around you is out of touch, it may not be them that is the problem.

You can make a kid act like that? A screaming toddler? There will certainly be times when nothing you can do within the laws of physics can PREVENT them from acting like that. My toddler threw a hysterical fit because the garage door can’t be SIMULTANEOUSLY open AND closed. No, son, I know you believe Daddy can do anything but quantum super positions are even out of my hands.

Screeming all the way across a parking lot? To the point where you have to excuse yourself to others by calling the kid an asshole? within the laws of physics? My toddler threw a hysterical fit because the garage door can’t be SIMULTANEOUSLY open AND closed.

The prime difference here is that you didn't have to persuade strangers that you were't stealing the child and call the child an asshole because they were upset about a nonsensical thing. You also didn't ignore them and carry them through a public place. The scene wasn't so large than one random person felt the need to do a write up on social media. That's pretty much the hallmark that the person isn't handling the situation nominally.

Should the guy have called his kid an asshole? No.

I was defending the guy when someone else said the apple didn't fall from the tree.

How harshly should you judge them for it? In that moment? Probably not very.

Now look in the mirror and tell yourself.