Last night on the Eastern Passage boardwalk we saw you drag your crying 3-4 year old daughter to your SUV by her wrist, and watched in awe as you yelled (extremely loudly) things at her like, “YOU REALLY PISSED ME OFF, THIS TIME! I TOLD YOU WHAT NOT TO DO, AND YOU FUCKING DID IT.” And, “YOU THINK YOU’RE UPSET NOW? I’LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT, AND I DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHO SEES IT.”
Everybody in the immediate and surrounding area watched. My friend and I were close to the situation, and you glanced at us, as we were observing. You then essentially threw your daughter into her car seat, while she cried that she was worried about her younger sister (18-24 months, at most) who had bolted away from your vehicle, down the boardwalk, while you fastened your eldest daughter’s seatbelt. You replied to her, “DON’T YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR SISTER – SHE’S MY PROBLEM, SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH.”
At this point, the male I was with yelled to you, concerned, from where we were, “What’s your problem over there?” You simply looked at us and continued to berate and yell at your daughters. After you had collected your smaller daughter from a good length down the boardwalk in a pile of strangers, and had sufficiently shoved her into her seat, you looked over at us and exclaimed, “Keep staring!” We kept staring. Especially at the make, model, colour, and licence plate of your vehicle, which has been reported to the police.
I am trying to be objective about the situation; my profession is working with children and families, and I know that parents occasionally have public meltdowns, just like children and—while the following doesn’t excuse or explain your behaviour, in my books—possibly it was the first and last time this has happened for you, and you feel really guilty about it, and you would never actually lay a hand on your daughter. Possibly you lost your job earlier, and your husband left you, and you were diagnosed with an incurable disease all in the same day, and any other possible “justification” you could have that would play into this, and you snapped. But considering all of the dimmer possibilities, I did not feel comfortable simply observing the situation and being disgusted by the threatening anger you displayed toward your daughters tonight. I have to wonder, if you’re comfortable with THAT kind of an outburst in public, what happens behind closed doors? I hope that you were, at the very least, sufficiently embarrassed by the entire situation. —Get a Clue
This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.
Children are useless … why have ’em anyway …
Eh, we have so many repeat posts. Post about bad parents, smoking ones, biking ones, bad driver ones. I’m not into it anymore …
Thanks for reporting this to the police, OP. All parents have meltdowns, yes, but there is no excuse for swearing at children. No child deserves to be spoken to in that way.
no one jesus wept, first the nailing to a cross and all this crap goin on, hey ah Donk spears is that u in ur avatar or just a random pic?
Maybe she was in a bad mood because the welfare cheque never arrived.
It’s Roisin Murphy.
OP, you have a description of the bipolar mother and the vehicle plate, right? Call Child Protective Services.
Good for you OP I would have too.
MYOB. Kids need more discipline these day. What was she supposed to do? Have a face to face discussion with a mediator present so both sides could come to an agreed upon solution?
Bitch, Please! If you don’t know the difference between disciplining a child and traumatizing it with out-of-control behavior and threats, you’re a goddamn tool and no better than the poor cunt who treats her kids like useless pieces of shit. Go fuck yourself with your stupid commentary.
i nominate her for mom of the year,NOT.
and just think o.p., when the mom gets old, the kid will probly just shove her away somewhere, ah sweet justice.
donk sweetie, if you had my kids, they would be a dream come true for you. my kids all came out great. and the little bugaboo that i have from time to time, is just about the best child ever to grace this fucking planet. everyone that meets her, loves her, and says that most parents would kill to have a child like her.i attribute this fact, to the proper care and nurturing process of being a good parent, and grand parent. but alas, i cannot create anymore, nuts cut out. over to you baby.
I dunno, I would have minded my own business. I was a little shit when I was kid, and my parents had meltdowns over it and I turned out fine.
For all you know the child had done something reckless and potentially endangered their own lives in doing it and the parent lost their mind over it. Who really knows?
Steve Del Toro – I’d assumed the situation you just described would have fallen in with one of my several “trying to remain objective” scenarios. Whatever the case, I don’t feel like there’s any way to justify what went down.
– OP
Maybe you’re right ne_worry_pas, but I just don’t feel it’s my place to stop a parent from screwing up their kids. Everyone is a little screwed up by their parents, and in my experience (yes, I know anecdotal evidence doesn’t matter for spit) it was always the kids that got away with murder or had the kind of parents that were too terrified of traumatizing their kids to discipline them properly that were the biggest assholes.
I can’t even count the number of times I teared up over being yelled at by either of my parents and then getting the “If you want to cry, I’ll give you something to cry about” thing. I honestly feel that children are handled too delicately in this generation.
You know, I think yelling expletives at your child, ESPECIALLY in public is NEVER ok. There is a difference between being nasty and discipline. Yes some kids are difficult but losing your temper like that is moronic.
“trying to remain objective” – worked fine and dandy with Archie Billard?
Ooooh the precious children! How TRAUMATIZED they will be for the rest of their lives for being yelled at! oooh. poor little things; Social Services better take them away because they were being given a little fear of their parents, maybe even respect, for telling them to shut their pieholes. Jesus. Gimme a fucking break. I can’t wait to see the little whiny egotistical entitled bitches this generation of parents produce.
… herp-a-derp derp derp.
Maybe the kid kicked a duck and asked to be yelled at.