Aug 25, 2011

Attention Parents

I am by no means a perfect parent, but today my son was literally slapped in the face with the repercussions of bad parenting. We went to "storytime" this morning and had the pleasure of meeting some interesting people. During the story it seemed much more chaotic than normal, there were many newer moms and kids that don't normally attend. They were allowing their kids to walk all over the stage and interrupt the story teller and were standing in front of the woman who was desperately trying to read her story.

Afterwards the kids usually play with Trains and usually the parents watch as the kids play and step in as needed. (because with kids under 3 there is most likely going to be issues with sharing/hitting/etc..) -- Also, you are in a public store and you should probably keep an eye on your child.

Today there were probably around 10 children under the age of 3 playing around the table. While 2 parents (myself included) watched them while the other moms gossiped on the other side of the store. One child decided that her game would be to hit the other kids. In a matter of minutes she had literally used 2 children as a punching bag. Hitting them in the face and on the head with her trains repeatedly. The other mom and I craned our necks all around the store looking for one of the moms to come and intervene. As soon as I thought it was over and the little girl was finished with her rampage. She decided to turn and hit my son in the face over and over again with 2 trains in her hand. I stood up and pulled the girl off of my son and told her no.

As I was pulling her off another mother (not the mother of the girl) came over and I asked her "who is this child's mother". She took the little girl and said I know who it is. Obviously it was one of her gossipy friends. I said to her that they should be watching their kids and scooped Reamer up and started to briskly walk out of the store. As I was leaving she continued to yell at me that "they are just kids and kids hit" and that I needed to "get over it and not over-react". I told her that the child had been hitting several kids and they needed to watch their kids".

If I had been thinking correctly I would have said what I really wanted to say.

1. Yes, kids hit eachother. That is normal! But as parents it's our job to teach them not to hit and to handle their frustration in a better way.

2. Stop gossiping and watch your children. They could hurt someone, hurt themselves, or get abducted.

3. It is not my job to parent your child. Do not leave your child with random people because you may not like the way I decide to parent the child that viciously hits my child.

4. Ohhhhhh.... One fact I forgot to mention, the child that was hitting my son was also eating a crayon.

5. Do not get angry when another parent is upset that you are not paying attention to your child.

6. These are almost all "stay at home moms". So something to remember. Your child is your job. I understand that you need sometime to yourself. But a public store is not the place to ignore your child and have random people watching them. Please do your job and take care of your child and do not expect others to watch your kid.