SC's kid causes a car crash in front of my store

[Becks]

Oh, dear, if I had a child that acted like that, I'd KNOW the hospital switched babies around.

And if I have a child who hits me and is old enough to know better? A stern talking to as we leave the store and perhaps some other form of punishment after we get home.

[South Texan]

I feel pretty certain the drivers' respective insurance companies are going to be interested in who the woman might be who drives the car with the license plate Kusanagi wisely wrote down - even is the police are not.

Insurance companies NEVER want to pay for accidents out of their own funds if they possibly can find someone else at fault, so this woman might be surprised to find herself on the defense end of a lawsuit. If that is the case and she is foolish enought to fight it, Kusanagi just might get to be a testifying witness.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

If, after the age of oh 3 (whatever my age of reason was), I had had the temerity to hit my mother? I might be waking up from the coma about now. While I was not a perfect child, I was only really spanked twice. I have had my hand get a single smack from a wooden spoon a couple times and my fanny get a couple swats but, for the most part, my mother believed in punishments like being sent to my room or treats being withheld. You know what, just being firm with me (& my brother & our friends), did most of the work.

Ye gods, does that woman not realize the complete disservice that she is doing to her pweshus? Maybe (I am an optimist, aren't I?) almost losing him will serve as a wake up call.

[IHateStupidCustomers]

Holy crap!

[Kusanagi]

I didn't want this to turn into a bashing thread, guys. :-(

That's why I put the disclaimer at the top, while the situation was horrible and I do indeed think that the kid deserves some rather harsh punishment and discipline, to say that you wish he would have been hit...

That's shocking, and dissapointing.

I'm not saying the kid is faultless. I'm saying it's a combination of this "new age" parenting where "every child is a unique snowflake and we can't do anything that may traumatize their sensitive little minds so we let them do whatever they want", and the kid picking up on this and then realizing that he can get away with everything. When the kid is that old, I'm sorry, then it's both their faults, but hell yes, I'm going to come down on the kid. The look on his face when I yelled at him made it abundantly clear that had never happened to him before, and because Mom was angry at me and snapped at him, his reaction told me that:

A) She had never done that before
B) The reason she doesn't do it now is because her child gets violent with her

These type of children that are given free reign to do whatever they want turn with no guidelines grow up without any consequences, and it's so...dissapointing...to see a kid like that and realize that because of his parents not instilling anything at all in him, he's growing up to be a future waste of humanity.

I know this kid knew better because of what happened, and in his actions. Every time he would run around and I would scold him, first lightly, then moving on, all his mother would do is say his name. She'd turn away from him, the kid would then look right at me and give one of those grinning sneers. Everyone who was a kid knows the one - the "haha, you didn't get me in trouble" look, then went right back to being destructive.

[Alpha Strike]

How silly of me...when you said there was a story about a car crash at work, I assumed it happened in the parking lot, something minor, etc....being that it's you, I should've known better.

Kusnangi, what is it about you buddy?

You're like a magnet for the world's worst customers. I feel sorry for you

My train of thought mirrored these two posters:

First: "Oh, this will be some simple story about a stupid customer in a parking lot causing an accident."

Then: "Wait... check that. This is a Kusnangi story, and those are never simple or minor."

Finally: "What did Kusnangi do in a past life to get people like this in his store?"

[Boozy]

Mom needs to get her child under control now, before he's bigger. It doesn't hurt when a five year-old hits you...but he's gonna grow up. Providing that he doesn't get hit by a car before he gets the chance.

Parents should discipline their kids for the kid's sake and not their own. No one wants their child ending up in jail or the hospital.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The reason she doesn't do it now is because her child gets violent with her.

I'm thinking that the poster who said earlier about children copying abusive parents is right on the money. Who's betting that this mother's husband beats her up and her little angel is just acting out what he sees his daddy do every day? If that's the case, you can only feel sorry for her; and him too, cuz one day reality is going to come crashing down on his head when he tries that sh*t on someone who's going to beat his arse.

[Rapscallion]

Gah, really? <sigh> Such tight sphincters some readers have. ><

They didn't used to have until it became a contest to see who could get the religious figure of their choice to do the wackiest things. Things just got out of hand.

Rapscallion

[edicius]

They didn't used to have until it became a contest to see who could get the religious figure of their choice to do the wackiest things. Things just got out of hand.

Rapscallion

I prefer "Holy Ovechkin on a Segway!" myself.

There are maybe one or two of you here who might appreciate that.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

The whole 'not watching or disciplining your kid' thing really gets to me.

Case in point: I'm happily working away at the counter, it's kind of slow as it's midday and we only have a few customers browsing.

Suddenly we all hear this kid screaming like she's being tortured. Everyone whips around to see what's wrong & this little girl, maybe 3 years old is pushing on the store door. She's screaming because the door won't open. She's not being hurt, she's frustrated. Where's mom & mom's friend? All the way at the back of the store.

Admittedly, the 5-lane highway was the length of the shopping center parking lot away but still, small children should not play in traffic.

[GolfCart34]

We one time had this woman and her two kids come into the bank. One of the kids was about 19 and the other one was no older than 5 (the 5 year old could have been the older kid's son or something). Anyway, the mom is in with the 19 year old opening an account while the 5 year old is running around the lobby causing trouble. The parents were completely oblivious to what the kid was doing. They didn't bring any toys from they toy basket into the CSR's office so the kid could play, rather they let him do whatever in the bank. Then he discovered the push button that the handicapped people use to open the door. He pushed the button about 10 times, then went out to the second door and did it again. Both doors are wide open. The head teller had to tell the kid to come back inside and stop playing with the buttons. She also tempted him with a piece of paper and a pen to draw with. Then when the head teller got up the kid started scribbling all over the counter! I noticed this and gave him a big piece of copier paper to draw on. By this time the mom and other kid finally discovered he was gone, but were going to leave the bank anyway. They grabbed him up, didn't even apologise for the kid scribbling all over the desk, and left. I'm sorry, but we have a lot of crazies in the area where the bank is and it only takes a few seconds for one of them to come in and snatch the kid up.

I just don't understand why it is so difficult for so many people to properly discipline their kids these days. Is it honestly that hard to tell your kid "no" every now and again or to send them to their room (without a TV, video games, radio, and/or computer thank you) for an hour or so to have them think about what they've done? I'm just scared to see how some of these kids end up when their adults.

[Ttam]

I just don't understand why it is so difficult for so many people to properly discipline their kids these days. Is it honestly that hard to tell your kid "no" every now and again or to send them to their room (without a TV, video games, radio, and/or computer thank you) for an hour or so to have them think about what they've done? I'm just scared to see how some of these kids end up when their adults.

Eh.... Probably part to do with the fact that most of them were spoiled as children themselves, or they have kids when they're not really ready for it and don't know what to do, or things like that....

What really bothers me is when people start inflicting their poor ideas of parenting on other people. Now, I know that's a pretty thin line, considering everyone in this thread has a few ideas of what to say to that dumbass mother and would be perfectly justified in saying them. And on the other end of the spectrum, I've seen parents who browbeat (or literally beat) their kids for minor infractions and in those cases people should say something too. But seriously, there are some cases where people should just mind their own business. Parenting really comes down to personal philosophy in the end anyway.... There isn't a 100% "right" method.

For instance. I remember at least one example where a little kid was throwing a hissy because he couldn't get whatever pointless bauble he'd set his eye on at the moment. His mother, understandably, got a little frustrated. "I said no and I meant NO!" This, of course, sent the little guy into an absolute tizzy. I was preparing myself mentally to have to deal with this for the next however long when, to my satisfaction, I hear the parent announce that if he can't behave himself, they're going home right then. Being a child, that only upset him more and he then decided that he was going to stay right there, hell or high water, and keep fussing, so his mom went to try to pick him up to take him outside. In swoops Ms. Wonderparent to chastise her for even thinking of enforcing her rules when clearly, the little guy was "expressing his displeasure".

....... The kid was throwing a tantrum, not starting a debate. Obviously its not an ideal situation and I'm sure someone could explain why you're supposed to sit there and try to talk sense into him, but I had actually been glad that she had chosen to remove little bratling so the rest of us wouldn't have to listen to the shrieking. I mean, mom had laid ground rules, kid had chosen not to listen, and she was about to enforce them. I have no idea what gave new-age fairy woman the thought that she had the right to impose her (at least in my opinion) flawed parenting concepts on someone else.....

Grmph.... Sorry for the rant. There's just so much about parents these days that annoy me..... *Slinks off*

[Forensic Waitress]

One time I was talking to a friend and her kid was being a shit and acting up. It got to the point where, as it was in my parents house I didn't want anything broken I asked her to discipline her kid and make him stop. She only did it lightly and he continued to make a mess. I finally snapped and told him to sit down and not touch anything. He stopped dead in his tracks and was good from then on. I told her if she didn't nip this in the butt he was just going to get worse. She admitted to me that she didn't want to be too harsh because she was worried he wasn't going to love her in the future. I asked her what her parents did to discipline them. She said pretty much what I had done. I then asked if she loved her parents and she said she did. Then that little revelation hit her. Now her kid is well behaved and she said he was a lot more into cuddles as well. See a little discipline goes a long way.

[RammsteinGirl]

Kusanagi, you always have the WORST customers! I feel for you!