Wednesday, June 9, 2010
what would you have done?
Last night I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart. Upon entering the store, I stumbled upon a group of 3 women and a 2 or 3 year old boy who was crying the whole way out of the store. Every 5 or 6 seconds one of them would yell at him to stop and proceed to spank him. She'd swat him a couple of times, he'd wail, she'd tell him to stop and then spank him again. Two things ran thru my mind as I tried not to look as we crossed paths...1) Now how smart is that? Because you know, every kid I meet just gets spanked and immediately stops crying. and 2) should i trip her and watch her fall flat on her face?! That would serve her right!! But then I thought that would send me straight to hell and probably get the kid beat more because she'd be mad. So, I walked in the store, raised my eyebrows at the greeter and went about my business. So, what would you have done?
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5 comments:
That would be tough to watch. I would want to follow them while videotaping on my phone along with getting their license plate and take it to the authorities
Although we'd like to smack these people, there's really nothing you can do. Unless she was totally abusing him.
You could say "excellent parenting" with enough sarcasm to make them wonder if you were reinforcing them or mocking them. Sometimes I will address the child and say "Are they being mean to you? Try to be good." Or something to help distract him from the misery so he can find a way to stop crying. You can tell them they look like trashy, stupid parents to every one in the store if you feel bold. Or the slightly less bold approach of loudly telling the person next to you what idiotic parents those people over there, etc, etc. You have to at least glare at them disapprovingly or you are giving them permission to continue public stupidity.
That is a tough one and I admit I see red whenever I come across this kind of behavior. Unfortunately there is not a lot we can do. We can try to report it but as anonymous has said unless it is total abuse nothing will change and in fact can cause the parent to take further frustration out on the child. A sad thing indeed. A disapproving look is about the best we can do.
Shop at Target. I never see people mistreating their children there....
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