A mothers hands are make for holding her child not hitting.
I was in a party store to buy a few things for Presley's last day of school party. While I was shopping I was surprised to hear a mother screaming and cursing at her toddler (she was still not able to speak). The little girl was standing up in the shopping cart trying to reach for something. I felt so bad for the little girl, it was completely normal behavior for a child her age... I decided I would hang around the aisle a bit to make sure she (the little girl was ok). After a few minutes past I walked to the next aisle.
As I shopped I tried to figure out what I would do if she continued to scream and curse at the toddler or hit her. Not saying anything was not something I could do. Approaching her aggressively wasn't an option either. Finally I decided I would ask the woman to take a minute, take a deep breath and try to be patient. And hopefully talk to her long enough to calm her down...
So a couple minutes later I hear the little one start to cry again. As I'm walking pass the woman and her female friend they get frustrated again and the mother aggressively grabs the child out of the shopping cart. She is in the process of cursing and screaming at the child. And said, "Excuse me, I know children are frustrating but can you just take a minute"... That's when she cuts me off and starts screaming and cursing at me. The whole time I'm thinking I just hope she can tell I'm not attacking her, or I looked concerned. Because I was, I just wanted to give her enough time to calm down before it escalated further.
She then says to me she is the mother and she can curse at her child if she wants. What am I going to do about it. The other woman is yelling at me too. The baby stopped crying and just stared. I said, I just don't think it's a good idea to curse at her. Then she asked me if there was a law against cursing at your child!.. I said no but I think you need to calm down. Again they asked me what I was going to do and I told them, I was calling the cops they dared me and I started dialing the cops right in front of them...
Surprising enough they didn't rush out of the store they stayed, the whole 15 minutes it took for a cop to get there. I told the cop what happened, and the store manager step out and said she saw it and didn't like that she was cursing in front of the customers (which included children). He walked over ans spoke with the mother and child.
I didn't hear what the cop told the mother of this little girl but she (the mother) was crying at this point. It's my hope that she realized then it's not ok to curse at a child. Judging her or get her in serious trouble wasn't something I wanted to do. Who knows how she was raised or what her life is like. I just wanted to calm her down and I hope the little one was safer leaving with a mom that is calm rather than screaming.
Seeing that this situation when south so fast I would definitely step in again but I'd do it differently. Hopefully I could buy enough time for the parent to realize I wasn't a threat and then go from there. The woman's friend was still defending the behavior as they were leaving but I think it hit home with the mother. As a mother I to tell a cop (or anyone) that I was screaming and cursing ("sit the f down" & "I'm going to f hit you" etc) at my toddler would be enough to make me second guess it...
This episode had me upset. I don't even want to think what some children have to endure in their life time...