Police: Wal-Mart Shopper Slaps Crying Child

[TklDuo-Ann]

You have been picking on me all day! I hope that your medical insurance doesn't lapse.

But....! You ARE a goofball...allbeit a loveable one! Besides, I've been sick all week and I'm getting bored. I need something to do, don't I?

 

[Deleted member 66627]

You sympathize with a man who slapped someone else's baby, and not once but four times. Really.

I seem to recall crying children in stores (and airplanes and movie theaters) throughout my life, it's hardly a new Gen-Y phenomenon.

And anyone who's ever tried to get an overtired and overstimulated inconsolable toddler to calm down understands what that mom was likely going through. Trying to get your errand run and get your little one home as quickly as possible is something every parent understands; the last thing you need is grown idiots who can't even control their own adult tempers looking down their noses at you. Don't get me wrong, badly behaved children in public ruining everyone's experience makes me just as crazy as the next person; frankly, as a preschool teacher the LAST thing I can handle during my time off is a shrieky little bag of yelling; I've even been known to leave a restaurant over it, my nerves can't take it sometimes. But that doesn't mean I don't feel for the parent who's doing the best they can and the little one who honestly isn't old enough to control themselves yet, and I'd expect more understanding and common sense from people than what I've been reading here. (I wonder if some folks have ever been around a just-turned-two yr old and know what they're actually like).

Thank you.

Daniel is 3 and in an extraordinarily defiant stage. He was mellow at 2, but it's pretty much blown up now. And if he's in a mood it makes getting things down away from home difficult. You'll never know what it's like until you have your own. I remember assuming the same bullshit before I had Spawn, but it's a whole different world once you have a baby. And assuming without knowing, especially in a situation like this is incredibly ignorant. Some folks whining about kids and their behavior have behaviors that can rival that of a righteously obstinate 2 year old. 🙄

 

[BellaRisa]

Thank you.

Daniel is 3 and in an extraordinarily defiant stage. He was mellow at 2, but it's pretty much blown up now. And if he's in a mood it makes getting things down away from home difficult. You'll never know what it's like until you have your own. I remember assuming the same bullshit before I had Spawn, but it's a whole different world once you have a baby. And assuming without knowing, especially in a situation like this is incredibly ignorant. Some folks whining about kids and their behavior have behaviors that can rival that of a righteously obstinate 2 year old. 🙄

Slightly off-topic: you should have seen us back in the day when Libby was a two yr old; she was very, very mellow and angelic, BUT she love love *loved* certain places like Blockbuster and would cry "HELP HELP HELP!!!" when we were leaving. That's one thing when she was with me, she's my clone, but try to imagine poor pink Bill with the long red beard trying to carry this freaking-out little brown kid out of the store without getting arrested for kidnapping; it was just wrong

 

[The Fallen Angel]

i laughed, but wtf, seriously hitting someone else's kid because it was crying. Thats crazy and im sure the old man will regret it when he spends some time behind bars

 

[..Glamorous..]

Thank you.

Daniel is 3 and in an extraordinarily defiant stage. He was mellow at 2, but it's pretty much blown up now. And if he's in a mood it makes getting things down away from home difficult. You'll never know what it's like until you have your own. I remember assuming the same bullshit before I had Spawn, but it's a whole different world once you have a baby. And assuming without knowing, especially in a situation like this is incredibly ignorant. Some folks whining about kids and their behavior have behaviors that can rival that of a righteously obstinate 2 year old. 🙄

This x25000000! Jordan is 19 months and he is difficult.. that doesn't mean I'm never going to leave my house! Most of the time he is absolutely fine till I get to the store, then he likes to show his ass. Like I said earlier, if I can't get him to stop then I'm going to ignore him.. not cause I'm a bitch but because that is what is going to get him to stop.

My child knows full well I will discipline him, but I'm certainly not going to crack him on the ass in public because you don't want to hear him cry. Honestly, it'll make it worse.

 

[Artoo]

Slightly off-topic: you should have seen us back in the day when Libby was a two yr old; she was very, very mellow and angelic, BUT she love love *loved* certain places like Blockbuster and would cry "HELP HELP HELP!!!" when we were leaving. That's one thing when she was with me, she's my clone, but try to imagine poor pink Bill with the long red beard trying to carry this freaking-out little brown kid out of the store without getting arrested for kidnapping; it was just wrong

Slightly off-topic: That's hilarious! The amount of times stuff like that happened when our [white] mother took us out when we were younger. 😀

 

[BellaRisa]

My child knows full well I will discipline him, but I'm certainly not going to crack him on the ass in public because you don't want to hear him cry. Honestly, it'll make it worse.

FTW. I wanna know what ass-aholic doofus decided pain is a way to get somebody to STOP crying; next time you're upset, go step on a tack and slam your fingers in the car door and see if things improve

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

Some folks whining about kids and their behavior have behaviors that can rival that of a righteously obstinate 2 year old. 🙄

That's for sure! While it sometimes bothers me (only because it hurts my ears), we have no right to pontificate about what any parent/guardian should or shouldn't do to remedy the situation. We don't know the details or any underlying circumstances. In some cases, trying to quiet a child in a full blown tantrum (when that's the case) just makes them scream louder. I generally follow the walk away guideline. If it bothers me, I just walk away...often giving the parent a much needed sympathetic smile as I do.

I loved Bella's story. One of my nephews used to scream that his mom was a stranger kidnapping him when he didn't get his way. She even had the police stop her on one occassion. As a result, she always carried photo ID of him as well as her own to prove that he was actually her child. That was the advice of the lady cop who'd stopped her. Kids! Gotta love 'em! lol

 

[Dussicar]

Whenever the baby bomb is dropped in public and I'm somewhere near, I just scream and cry along with them.

It's very theraputic.

 

[..Glamorous..]

Whenever the baby bomb is dropped in public and I'm somewhere near, I just scream and cry along with them.

It's very theraputic.

That is usually how I get mine to stop.. I might look nuts but it works, most of the time.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

So long as the parent is trying in some way to deal with the child, i'm more willing to let it slide. When they just ignore the child and let it cry for god only knows how long, then it pisses me off. Parents can't control when there kid is going to have a tantrum, but they can at least try and remedy the situation in some reasonable fashion.

 

[..Glamorous..]

So long as the parent is trying in some way to deal with the child, i'm more willing to let it slide. When they just ignore the child and let it cry for god only knows how long, then it pisses me off. Parents can't control when there kid is going to have a tantrum, but they can at least try and remedy the situation in some reasonable fashion.

Okay, this is the third time I'm saying this.. if you try to console most of the time it backfires and adds to the fire. When we ignore them or mock, is when they stop.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Okay, this is the third time I'm saying this.. if you try to console most of the time it backfires and adds to the fire. When we ignore them or mock, is when they stop.

Your going to have to tell that to the kids who continue to cry. Sometimes doing something is the best way to remedy the situation. Case in point, several years ago i was at a rec center. A women had a small child with her and the child was crying for something to drink(Can;t remember if it was specifically water or not). There was a water fountain right close by, less then fifty feet, but the child was too small to use it.

After several minutes of the child crying and the women doing nothing about it, i had listened to it enough. I walked over to the man behind the refreshment counter and asked for an empty cup. I then walked over to the fountain, filled it half the way with water, and gave it to the kid who was very close to it at the time. The kid stopped crying, drank some water. A few moments later the women took the kid and they left. Problem solved. Now, perhaps the women hadn't thought of that solution and was physically incapable of lifting her child up a bit so he could drink from the fountain. Don't know. I do know that doing something did shut the kid up though.

 

[Brock Samson]

Ok, I don't have kids, but I have had to go along with friends who do. I've even watched a few friends' kids for them. From my very limited experience, I can gather that yelling back and trying to calm doesn't always work. Sometimes, kids cry, get mad, and make noise. It happens. Let it happen, or just mimic them wildly, and eventually it stops, cuz it is seen as pointless in the eyes of the child, as it either gets no attention, or gets the wrong kind of attention.
But more to the point: you never, under any circumstance, lay your hands on someone else's child...EVER. Thats like walking in front of a speeding big rig on an ice road.....yeah, just asking for complete obliteration. This guy is probably gonna be somebody's fingerpuppet his first night in the slam, and thats the clean version!

 

[..Glamorous..]

Your going to have to tell that to the kids who continue to cry. Sometimes doing something is the best way to remedy the situation. Case in point, several years ago i was at a rec center. A women had a small child with her and the child was crying for something to drink(Can;t remember if it was specifically water or not). There was a water fountain right close by, less then fifty feet, but the child was too small to use it.

After several minutes of the child crying and the women doing nothing about it, i had listened to it enough. I walked over to the man behind the refreshment counter and asked for an empty cup. I then walked over to the fountain, filled it half the way with water, and gave it to the kid who was very close to it at the time. The kid stopped crying, drank some water. A few moments later the women took the kid and they left. Problem solved. Now, perhaps the women hadn't thought of that solution and was physically incapable of lifting her child up a bit so he could drink from the fountain. Don't know. I do know that doing something did shut the kid up though.

Okay, but most of the time they are crying for no reason and just throwing a fit.. I'm not saying ignore them if something is wrong. But, you can bet your ass I ignore my son if he is just acting out or crying because I wouldn't open his matchbox car until we got outside (which he does every time I pick one up for him -- which is every time I go to walmart), or even something as stupid as me giving my groceries to the cashier, he freaks out about that too.

 

[Brock Samson]

Your going to have to tell that to the kids who continue to cry. Sometimes doing something is the best way to remedy the situation. Case in point, several years ago i was at a rec center. A women had a small child with her and the child was crying for something to drink(Can;t remember if it was specifically water or not). There was a water fountain right close by, less then fifty feet, but the child was too small to use it.

After several minutes of the child crying and the women doing nothing about it, i had listened to it enough. I walked over to the man behind the refreshment counter and asked for an empty cup. I then walked over to the fountain, filled it half the way with water, and gave it to the kid who was very close to it at the time. The kid stopped crying, drank some water. A few moments later the women took the kid and they left. Problem solved. Now, perhaps the women hadn't thought of that solution and was physically incapable of lifting her child up a bit so he could drink from the fountain. Don't know. I do know that doing something did shut the kid up though.

This is pretty different though. I mean, you gave that kid some water. You didn't get all slap happy on the kid's face.

 

[Knot Amewzed]

Your going to have to tell that to the kids who continue to cry.

It takes time to condition the child to stop crying through ignoring them. The parent needs patients to obtain this obedience; this is a process that the parents needs to implement no matter how long it takes. I would truly love to see if someone had the balls to slap my child in the face while executing the abovementioned parenting method. I would love to see if someone would actually even say something to me.

 

[BellaRisa]

It takes time to condition the child to stop crying through ignoring them. The parent needs patience to obtain this obedience; this is a process that the parents needs to implement no matter how long it takes. I would truly love to see if someone had the balls to slap my child in the face while executing the abovementioned parenting method. I would love to see if someone would actually even say something to me.

This. It's one thing if a child is crying/tantrumming because of a real tangible need, like a glass of water. (And frankly even then we need to teach them that throwing a hissy fit is unacceptable and NOT how you get what you need...) But in the very common situation where a young child really just needs to be removed from the scene to diffuse and not have their behavior reinforced/rewarded with too much attention, the best thing you can do is finish your business ASAP and take your baby home without making things even worse. Someone once told me that a child will seek to repeat the last thing you did right before they stopped crying, for better or for worse, and I think there's some truth to that.

 

[Angel77]

It's just simple......it wasn't his kid so hands off! Hell, I would have whapped him for reaching into my cart and touching my groceries!

 

[steph]

Story #1)
Took place several years ago. I was visiting Mom and she decided she needed some things from the grocery store. I wanted some stuff too so I tagged along. At the checkout was a mom and her baby. Baby was old enough to articulate and was spazzing about about something stupid (it was not something essential like water) I can't remember what it was exactly but she was throwing a FULL ON TANTRUM. Mama has one of those voices that really carry and said to me loudly "You kids NEVER behaved like that in public." "Because we were such good kids?" I asked her, feeling smug. A cloud passed over her face and she said "NO! But you knew what you were gonna get at home if you acted like THAT."

Story #2)
My friend Jenn. Hubby trains on some kind of dental software program and is on the road pretty much every week, all week. She's basically a single mom raising 3 kids. She constantly gets compliments on how well behaved they are. I asked her about it~all of my friends have kids, my best friend alone has SEVEN (5 by the first wife, don't go crazy!) and most of them are monsters.

Jen told me "Look, some kids are fine out in public. When mine weren't, I left them at home until I felt they were ready and each one is different." Is that realistic, I wondered, just don't bring them with, it's that easy? "Most of the time" she said. "Unless someone's sick and you're out of medicine~and I always keep a surplus, you generally don't have to have ANYTHING RIGHT that very second. Most things can wait till the weekend, or you can ask a friend to pick something up for you~and get to know the other moms in the neighborhood~there's always someone who needs a favor. We do them for each other and it works out great."

XOXO

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Okay, but most of the time they are crying for no reason and just throwing a fit.. I'm not saying ignore them if something is wrong. But, you can bet your ass I ignore my son if he is just acting out or crying because I wouldn't open his matchbox car until we got outside (which he does every time I pick one up for him -- which is every time I go to walmart), or even something as stupid as me giving my groceries to the cashier, he freaks out about that too.

So long as you are doing everything you can to get yourself and your child out of the store and general public as fast as you can, that is acceptable.

This is pretty different though. I mean, you gave that kid some water. You didn't get all slap happy on the kid's face.

True. I do believe a line is drawn at striking another child. I would quickly remove myself from the area if i ever had anything close to that level of desire to shut the kid up.

It takes time to condition the child to stop crying through ignoring them. The parent needs patients to obtain this obedience; this is a process that the parents needs to implement no matter how long it takes.

I have no problem with that, until it starts to involve myself. You want to play the patience game, fine. Do it at your own house, where the rest of the world doesn't have to listen to it. As always, there are times when it can't be helped, but for the other times, either remove yourself and your child from the area to a less occupied area or dont take them out.

 

[Cosmo_ac]

Story #2)
My friend Jenn. Hubby trains on some kind of dental software program and is on the road pretty much every week, all week. She's basically a single mom raising 3 kids. She constantly gets compliments on how well behaved they are. I asked her about it~all of my friends have kids, my best friend alone has SEVEN (5 by the first wife, don't go crazy!) and most of them are monsters.

Jen told me "Look, some kids are fine out in public. When mine weren't, I left them at home until I felt they were ready and each one is different." Is that realistic, I wondered, just don't bring them with, it's that easy? "Most of the time" she said. "Unless someone's sick and you're out of medicine~and I always keep a surplus, you generally don't have to have ANYTHING RIGHT that very second. Most things can wait till the weekend, or you can ask a friend to pick something up for you~and get to know the other moms in the neighborhood~there's always someone who needs a favor. We do them for each other and it works out great."

Steph, tell your friend Jen that she is my hero. Seriously. Not every women has these roads open for her, but she did and she used them. God bless her.

 

[duannewalton]

I think my Mom used to say it best:

"Nobody beats my kids but me."

 

[WorkInProgress]

The child was 2. That's a baby. Babies cry. The man slapped a crying baby. He should get a very long jail sentence. Period.

 

[Knot Amewzed]

I have no problem with that, until it starts to involve myself. You want to play the patience game, fine. Do it at your own house, where the rest of the world doesn't have to listen to it. As always, there are times when it can't be helped, but for the other times, either remove yourself and your child from the area to a less occupied area or dont take them out.

I agree. Personally, I would have removed myself from the situation; however, an outside party should never get involved even if they feel that the situation is engulfing them. Adults have to expect diverse behaviors from children when they are in public settings. Many single parents require that his or her child go out with them due to the lack of supervision if left home.

If a 61 year adult has a serious problem with a screaming child, perhaps he should go to store management. Better yet, he should reassess his sensitivity to the many irritating factors that encompass our world.