The other day Collin and I went after school. He was to play for twenty minutes then we would go to the food court for lunch. While we were there I noticed this foreign guy with his two boys, probably ages three and six, who seemed as if the last thing he wanted to be doing was hanging out in this play area. And the kids seemed like holy terrors. Needless to say, I kept my eye on them. The three year old was making a habit of hitting every kid that came near the slide. This little brat hit Collin in the back once, but Collin didn't let it bother him and moved on. But this kid kept on hitting. A few times the dad would notice his son doing this and go scold him for a second, then get back to sitting and looking miserable. Now, I'm not going to tell anyone how to discipline their child, but if Collin ever acted this way I would have him outta that mall in a heartbeat. Not this dad. We made eye contact after one of his "lessons in friendliness" and gave me a look that signified, "Kids, what can you do?"
The hitting continued to happened throughout our time there. I was surprised that the other parents there weren't noticing this. Sure, I didn't do anything when it happened to my boy, but he moved on. Other kids kept going back as if to stand their ground. Only one parent, after witnessing their child get knocked in the head, did something. She tried to make her little girl go and tell the boy not to hit her. I could almost see the three year old boy's fist clinch as she approached him. That was enough for me to see, so Collin and I left to go eat.
The whole time I sat there and watched this father literally do nothing while his turd of a monster child marked his territory near the slide, I did all I could to not go over and say something to him. Even if I would have gone over to him, who am I to tell another person how to be a parent? I should have just gone with my gut instinct, which was to tell Collin to go punch that three year old in the face.
3 comments:
Oh my gosh, the mall play area. There's almost always a parent and child like that at any given time in every mall across the country. They should install "malevolent playtime intent" sensors at the entryways to keep those kids out. Of course, that would be creepy, and really, it's the parent's job to make sure their kids don't act like complete terd heads. I fail to see why some parents chose to allow such behavior.
Things you could/should have said"
1. Are you just going to continue allowing your child hit every kid that comes near him?
2. Quite the chip off the ol' block there, huh Mr. Tyson?
When I was 4ish, there was a kid at school that had a tendancy to bite me. The teachers and his mom would attempt to scold him every time, but he would still bite me. As instructed, I would tell him no, avoid the kid, etc. One day my mom went up to the kid and said that the next time he bit me, she would bite him, and reminded him that she has a lot more teeth than he did. Definitely not the most responsible parenting, but the kid stopped biting me. Fortunately, no law suit or restraining order followed.
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