I have to admit I was not in a good mood yesterday. I had the day off work (and while I sometimes gnash my teeth about my manager he has always been really really supportive about any personal difficulties) because I'd had to take my mother home from hospital after she had an operation. She's doing OK, but they haven't solved the problem so she'll need to go back - and in the mean time she was woozy, depressed and impossible.
I went down to Marks and Spencers at lunch time for a couple of things she wanted. Maybe a 10 minute walk away. And all goes well until I'm in the queue with my basket in my hand.
A woman with a small buggy pulls into the queue behind me, very tight behind me. About 2 seconds later my basket swings violently forward. I think she's run the buggy into me. I turned my head slightly, kind of the universal indicator for "I felt that!", but leave it at that.
Then it happens again. The child must be kicking the basket. Then it is pulled hard backwards. Each time I turn a bit, but it's stopped and I don't turn right round to confront her.
The fourth time it's pulled back, and it's starting to hurt. I turned right round and there is a little boy in the buggy grinning hugely at me. He actually looks really sweet.
The mother has said/done absolutely nothing throughout all this. I wanted to say something to the child - but that's not a good idea really so I settled to saying what I wanted generally, to both of them. I gave the boy a little smile and then turned to face between him and the mother and said :
"That really isn't funny, that hurts me".
And the mother started snapping at me.
SC - "Well if that's a problem you should move forward" (into a space that opened up while I was speaking".
Me - "I'm sorry ? You came right up behind me, I do not believe that is my responsibility"
SC - "Well he's only 2"
Me - "And his behaviour is your responsibility. I did not say he was being bad, but you should have stopped him grabbing my basket. If you cannot stop him perhaps you should move"
I wanted to say "You are not 2. And if he really cannot be trusted to be within arms reach then you should make sure he is not within arms reach" but she stomped off to another till.
My bad temper showed when I (and I'm embarrassed about this) yelled after her "You had 4 opportunities to say something to him, and you are just a bad mother".
The really heart breaking thing, the thing that really left me fuming and cursing her parenting skills ?
When I turned round and spoke the little boy got this look of perfect understanding on his face. An "Oh, my actions affect someone else, I didn't know" look. It was so clear that actually telling him not to (because "you don't touch other people's stuff" or "you could hurt that lady" would have worked).![Frown](https://www.customerssuck.com/board/core/images/smilies/frown.png)
From the Simpsons (Ned Flanders ineffectual parents) - "You gotta help us, Doc. We've tried nothing and we're fresh out of ideas!"
Victoria J
I went down to Marks and Spencers at lunch time for a couple of things she wanted. Maybe a 10 minute walk away. And all goes well until I'm in the queue with my basket in my hand.
A woman with a small buggy pulls into the queue behind me, very tight behind me. About 2 seconds later my basket swings violently forward. I think she's run the buggy into me. I turned my head slightly, kind of the universal indicator for "I felt that!", but leave it at that.
Then it happens again. The child must be kicking the basket. Then it is pulled hard backwards. Each time I turn a bit, but it's stopped and I don't turn right round to confront her.
The fourth time it's pulled back, and it's starting to hurt. I turned right round and there is a little boy in the buggy grinning hugely at me. He actually looks really sweet.
The mother has said/done absolutely nothing throughout all this. I wanted to say something to the child - but that's not a good idea really so I settled to saying what I wanted generally, to both of them. I gave the boy a little smile and then turned to face between him and the mother and said :
"That really isn't funny, that hurts me".
And the mother started snapping at me.
SC - "Well if that's a problem you should move forward" (into a space that opened up while I was speaking".
Me - "I'm sorry ? You came right up behind me, I do not believe that is my responsibility"
SC - "Well he's only 2"
Me - "And his behaviour is your responsibility. I did not say he was being bad, but you should have stopped him grabbing my basket. If you cannot stop him perhaps you should move"
I wanted to say "You are not 2. And if he really cannot be trusted to be within arms reach then you should make sure he is not within arms reach" but she stomped off to another till.
My bad temper showed when I (and I'm embarrassed about this) yelled after her "You had 4 opportunities to say something to him, and you are just a bad mother".
The really heart breaking thing, the thing that really left me fuming and cursing her parenting skills ?
When I turned round and spoke the little boy got this look of perfect understanding on his face. An "Oh, my actions affect someone else, I didn't know" look. It was so clear that actually telling him not to (because "you don't touch other people's stuff" or "you could hurt that lady" would have worked).
![Frown](https://www.customerssuck.com/board/core/images/smilies/frown.png)
From the Simpsons (Ned Flanders ineffectual parents) - "You gotta help us, Doc. We've tried nothing and we're fresh out of ideas!"
Victoria J
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