School of Hard Knocks

[Unforgiven]

You don't know me well enough to make any kind of assessment......Maybe just lighten up a bit.

Oh brother.

 

[karrie]

I had stopped at one of the malls to pick up a few groceries. I was back at my car, key in hand when I was startled by a loud(110 decibels at least) piercing scream followed by another in five seconds, and every five seconds after that. The five seconds was the time it took for a four year old kid to take another breath. The mother of this kid put up with it for a couple minutes and finally gave the kid a good smack on the backside which seemed to stop the noise. There was another woman nearby who looked at the mother like she was an ax murderer. By this time I had had a chance to look at the mother. She was maybe six months pregnant and obviously at the end of her rope. The kid had wanted candy and hadn't got it. The kid had royally deserved a smack on the a$$. I don't usually approve of corporal punishment but this time I cheered for mum.

I become one of two things with moms when they're dealing with a kid like that. They either love me or hate me, because I'll walk up and say "Hey, quit acting so bad for your mom." and then chat the kid up with nonsense stuff until they smile. When I step in 100% of the time is if a kid hits their mom... "That is NOT okay." Kids never listen so well as when a complete stranger walks up and reprimands them. 90% of the time, strangers won't even speak to them, and it ends up really easy for a kid to not realize that they are impacting anyone but their mom.

 

[#juan]

I become one of two things with moms when they're dealing with a kid like that. They either love me or hate me, because I'll walk up and say "Hey, quit acting so bad for your mom." and then chat the kid up with nonsense stuff until they smile. When I step in 100% of the time is if a kid hits their mom... "That is NOT okay." Kids never listen so well as when a complete stranger walks up and reprimands them. 90% of the time, strangers won't even speak to them, and it ends up really easy for a kid to not realize that they are impacting anyone but their mom.

Most of the time you can tell if the mom is losing it. A sharp reprimand from a stranger can have dramatic results. I haven't done that sort of thing for a while now. Usually someone beats me to it.