Last week in the parking lot of the grocery store, a woman gave me a kind look as I struggled to get the little guy into his car seat. I surfaced for air and she nodded and said "I remember those days. I used to ask myself, who are these people, and why are they torturing me?" I laughed. Then she told me her kids were now in their thirties and had kids of their own. "I don't know where the time went," she said.
I had had a rough morning and her comments help put it all in perspective.
Today the little guy and I were at another grocery store. He had been acting spazzy, but nothing dramatic or over the top. If you have little kids, I'm sure you're familiar with the art of drowning out the noise while you fill up your grocery cart.
All of a sudden a woman whips around and yells harshly in my sons face, "BE QUIET!!!!!!!" I jumped as the whole thing took me by such surprise. I stared at her, blood pumping through my veins, "DO NOT SPEAK TO MY CHILD THAT WAY!" Everyone in the aisle stopped and stared at the spectacle. Crazy lady and I went back and forth with harsh words about 3 times before I walked off in a state of shock. I couldn't believe I wanted to have a throw down with an old lady at Superfresh. After I told the cashier what had happened, she agreed that I had every right to beat her up (she too was a mother of a young child).
I have never seen anything like this occur before, so I'm unclear how I should have handled it. Frankly, the woman deserved at least a slap across the face--who yells at a 2 year old they don't even know? But that's not really the lesson I want to teach my son. As we made our escape from the crazy lady, the little guy said, "That lady mad. That lady mad." Indeed my dear son, that lady mad.
2 comments:
Wow! I'm proud of you for so loudly standing up for your son and letting him know it is not OK for people to speak to him that way. Way to go Mama bear! And isn't it amazing what a difference a person can make in your day with their positive or negative energy. Whew! Before I was a parent, I was on a plane and the lady sitting right next to me got impatient with a little (less than 2) guy who was crying, and whose mother was trying to soothe him by telling him to look at the lights on the runway. She turned around and said, "He doesnt' want to look at the lights! Just tell him to be quiet!" Like that works. I have never forgotten that incident because I was sorry I didn't stand up for the mother. Now that I am one, I certainly would.
Holy cow! Good for you for standing up for yourself & your son. I have never had an encounter like that so I don't know how I'd respond but I sure like to think I'd tell her something like you did! Maybe she was having a bad day, but that is no excuse! If I had my older child with me, maybe the lesson id use would be that sometimes we dint act right if we are upset/mad/etc (meaning her, not you) and maybe we should pray for her. ?
Post a Comment