General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Adults that spoil kids aggravate me [View all]Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)Case in point:
I remember some years ago a mother who was accustomed to letting her child do anything he wanted, was visiting another mother (whom I know) who also had a child. The child was being a bully, but his mother did nothing to stop his bullying behavior. Soon, her child was mistreating the child of the mother she was visiting, but the mother of the of the mistreating child did nothing to stop it. Seeing that the other mother was not stopping her son from bullying her daughter, the mom of the child being mistreated soon began saying things to the boy, like: "No, don't do that to her." The child looked up and continued.
Well, the girl was playing with a toy flute, and the boy shoved it down her throat. At that point both mothers stood up, alarmed. The mother of the girl pulled the flute out of her throat, the girl began to cry and point to her neck. Alarmed, she called 911. Meanwhile the mother of the boy started reassuring the mother of the injured girl, and saying, "I'm so SORRY! He didn't MEAN to, he didn't MEAN to!"
The ambulance arrived, checked out the girl and the medics advised the mom to take the little girl to the doctor immediately. She had some lacerations to her throat.
Why some parents don't stop their kids from engaging in unacceptable behavior, is beyond me.
Another case in point:
I attended a wedding in N. New York not long ago. One of the kids (a girl of 10 I'll call "J" was being a pest. First, at the reception J decided she didn't want to sit at the table where she and her family were seated. When told she couldn't move, J dragged her chair to another table where another little girl and her family was. J's parents did nothing.
There were some wedding souvenirs placed at each table setting for each person to take home, and she walked around taking the souvenirs off the tables where people had not yet sat, and stuffing them in her purse. The sister of the bride told her to put the souvenirs back, and she began to cry and throw a tantrum. Then she stormed out of the reception, banging the door. At that point, her parents walked out to her and tried to convince her to go back into the reception. They failed. She remained outside.
The groom then walked outside and tried to convince her to go back into the reception, and she yelled at him that nobody in the world liked her. (No wonder they didn't).
Finally, one of the female guests went outside to her and told her: (1) That she was upsetting her parents and that was wrong, (2) That no one admired her for her misbehavior, (3) That she would definitely be disliked if she didn't go back into the reception and, (4) That she (the guest) had no problem personally and bodily taking her back with her to her hotel and causing her to miss the meal and festivities, so she had a choice: go back in, or be pulled into a car and taken to a hotel where she would watch no TV, have no food, and merely wait for her parents to pick her up.
Needless to say, she quieted down and returned to the reception, dragged her chair back to where her parents was, and remained silent and upset the rest of the time.
Some parents do nothing to get bratty kids under control.