I was in a department store parking lot and seen a woman slap a child a few times excessively hard but i didn't want to get involved. Should i have said something? If she were bold enough to do something like that in public could it be worse at their home?
2006-07-06 20:53:06 · 28 answers · asked by Rico 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
no, it sounds like the child was not in real danger. It was somewhat controlled. No doubt it made you feel uncomfortable, but I don't think a law was broken.
It would be hard to deduce (or prove) that something worse was going on at home.
2006-07-06 20:56:07 · answer #1 · answered by truthyness 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The kid just got slapped a few times? Maybe the kid had it coming.
I'd rather see a kid disciplined every once in a while than to have them run around all of creation being rude. It is terrible the way some parents let their kids go around with out any checks or balances.
If this was a long drawn out beating, you would have been right to get involved. I would have taken the license plate down and passed it on to the authorities and alerted the guards. Unless that child was in real danger you had no business going up to her and confronting her. She might have come after you. You just never know with people. And if you do have to confront someone like that, get the guards or a few other people to back you up if you can.
2006-07-07 09:35:15 · answer #2 · answered by Think.for.your.self 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's why kids have no respect for anything or anybody nowadays. People opposing discipline. I've seen kids in the mall slap their parents in the face, speak to their parents like they are pieces of s***, even little ones, and those are the parents who don't discipline they're children. So no, doesn't mean abuse necessarily the child might have done something that warranted this maybe the kid shoplifted or what I mentioned above. There is a difference between abuse and discipline! Best to mind your own business if something is going on in the home the pediatrician or school will be aware and contact the proper authorities.
2006-07-08 01:23:23 · answer #3 · answered by beachdiva954 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is always hard to know what to do, reporting it to social services doesn't necessarily mean the child will be protected, and it should not be the government's job, in most cases, but a woman i know handled it pretty well, though not orthodoxically when she saw the same thing in a store...she leaned on her cane and looked down at the child and said very loudly and plainly..it is okay, in a few years you will be big enough to hit her back...the mother was very shocked...and the old woman told her, well what do you think you are teaching that child? this is the person that is going to take care of you when you are old and helpless...is this how you want them to behave? i hope for the child's sake she got the point!
2006-07-07 04:40:50 · answer #4 · answered by rainydaydreamr 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i see so many sides to this.
lots of good answers. love the one about the old lady who said ...in a few years...
i saw a kid about 7 years old who needed to have this done to it (couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl) . this kid was going thru wal-mart (in the basket with mom pushing) yelling obscenities. when i say this, i'm talking things like 'cnt' , 'psy' , 'f'you' , 'fgt' , 'dyk' words that MOST 7 year olds don't know yet.
it made me wonder what the home life was like. the other kids didn't behave like that. they were exceptionally well behaved and seemed to have been embarrassed by this child.
mom just kept saying 'stop it'. that's all. i wanted to slap that woman silly. all i could do was shake my head and tell her 'no wonder you have no friends to watch that child so you can go out in public without IT'
2006-07-07 08:31:03 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I seen something similar on Christmas eve years ago
shopping. It pissed me off so much I stood in the store and
glared at the psycho mother for the longest time.This little boy was shaking,crying and terrified.
He was so scared and upset I still think about him
and will never forget the look on his face. He was about 6 years
old in the TOY section and wanted one of course, and the mom went insane. He was not being bad...you can't take a child to a toy store and expect them not to want something?..Anyway
I still regret not kicking her *******' *** everyday or at least calling social services or the police. NO Child deserves to be abused.
2006-07-07 04:13:31 · answer #6 · answered by MnGirl 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should have immediately got her license plate number and called 911. If that person felt justified abusing a child in public, it can only be much worse at home.
2006-07-13 00:49:02 · answer #7 · answered by jmiller 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have intervened when I've seen that happen.
It probably doesn't help in the long term. But when the parent starts yelling at me to mind my own business (which is what usually happens) she stops hitting her kid. So at least the poor kid gets a little break.
On the other hand, if enough people say something to parents who beat their kids in public, maybe they'll get the message.
2006-07-07 16:19:09 · answer #8 · answered by johntadams3 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Slap a child? Or spank a child? It isn't your place to correct a parent who is punishing their child. If you don't agree with spanking, so be it, apparantely that parent does. You don't know why she was slapping that child. That child could have said something completely out of line. Not that slapping (you don't mention where) is the answer but it's none of your business.
2006-07-07 03:58:17 · answer #9 · answered by adagia27 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
interesting question. I actually had a similar situation happen to me. I saw a grandmother with her grandson getting on the bus and she jerked him by the arm and kinda threw him into the seat and was yelling at him everytime he'd open his mouth to say something. I mean this little boy looked like he was in absolute terror of his own grandmother. I DID say something to her, and yeah, it pissed her off, but I told her, I was like "he's just a little boy, little boys make mistakes, they're kids, and they have a lot more energy than you. You can't blame him for that, but the more you treat him like that, the more scared he's going to get of you. If you want a loving relationship with that child, he's gotta be able to trust you to open up to you, but he's never going to if you continue to treat him like that, and I grew up as an abused child and look lady, if i EVER see you put your hands on that child again like you just have, i WILL call the authorities"
2006-07-07 04:07:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If by a mall or an area where there are police or security guards just make sure that this women is not capable of kicking your ***.
And abuse is sure a big WRONG thing many people face, and sometimes you have to speak out for what you believe in.
2006-07-07 03:58:23 · answer #11 · answered by Dawn M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋