It drives me crazy when people to not supervise or attempt to control their wild children in public.
Now don't confuse this with children throwing a tantrum in public. It doesn't bother me when children scream, cry, or throw a tantrum as long as they are being watched and contained. I recommend using shopping carts. Here is a good example:
Every kid throws a tantrum eventually, and you can't always avoid it. My problem exists when the kids are running around wild or fighting or breaking things, and the parents are nowhere to be seen.
I smiled at the girl and explained that it was TJ's balloon. She followed after us crying and demanding the balloon. I asked the girl where her mother was. She didn't know.
For about five minutes, I walked through the store with a crying three-year-old following me. When I finally found her mother, she had no interest in her daughter. She yelled at the girl to stop bothering me and then told her to go find a place to play (the mother was looking at flat-screen tv's). I wanted to inform the girl's mother that this was not a playground, and there is no place for a three-year-old child to play unsupervised. I should have.
Since the three-year-old girl's mother did not want to "deal" with her daughter, we continued to have a shadow. But this shadow continued to cry and demand the balloon. I finally took her back to her mother explaining the situation about the balloon. Her mother said, "Why don't you just give her the balloon?"
I did not give her the balloon.
I feel very sad for this little girl. She is screaming for love and attention. Part of loving a child is giving them reasonable boundaries for their age and teaching them respect and responsibility.
People, if you are going to have children, parent them. Thank you.
5 comments:
We got in trouble for letting Jake ride under the cart like that at Target. :(
And wow, you are such a nicer person then I would have. I would have given that mom a piece of my mind, especially if she said to give her child TJ's balloon. Not cool!
I agree with you, though. I know my kids can get a little wild in the store, and if I can't track them down at that moment, I'm after them the next. Sometimes I just get distracted by and item and they take that time to make a run for it. I try really hard to make them stay with me and do give them stern talking to's when they run off. And lo and behold, I get glares because I'm disciplining my kids. You just can't win sometimes.
I can't believe she said, "Why don't you just give her the balloon?" THE NERVE.
You are such a great parent. I thought I would just add that.
It's so true. I will never judge another mom again whose child is throwing a tantrum. I used to. Then mine started doing it in public places. I actually try not to judge parents at all anymore, because you never know what they're dealing with. Unless the parent doesn't seem to care at all about the kid. Yeah, I'd have a problem with that, too.
Some days I wish there was an application process for becoming a parent. But then, some days I think I wouldn't pass if there was! :)
Grrrr!!
Sad! Poor girl! But I agree about the parents watching kids in public thing. I won't let my kids go more than 2 feet from me while we shop.
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