I know that the last couple of weeks have been filled with posts that haven't exactly been the type that brings a smile to your face or makes you laugh, but I promise this is the last one of those for a while...
I'm definitely one of those people who thinks of witty comebacks or fantastic solutions minutes, if not days, after I need them. Recently I've had two experiences that left me speechless and not knowing what to do, but ask me about them now and here is how I would have responded:
Experience 1:
We're shopping in a store, taking advantage of the after holidays sale. Ellie is with us and even insists that she gets naked in the dressing room just like Mommy. When not in the dressing room, Ellie is playing with Daddy running back and forth in different parts of the store, but over all being very well behaved considering her age. Twice, I repeat TWICE, one of the store clerks jumped out from behind a rack of clothes and picks Ellie up in a attempt to play along. Let me repeat that - A COMPLETE STRANGER JUMPS OUT AND PICKS ELLIE UP!!!
My response:
I realize that the store clerk was just "playing" but seriously - it is NOT OK to ever just grab and pick up a toddler unless you want her parent to bash you for thinking you're carrying her away. However, she was just playing along, so instead of doing anything about it, let's turn it into a lesson for Ellie. Immediately after the lady picked Ellie up the first time, we should tell Ellie that if a stranger ever picks her up again that she needs to yell her best and loudest yell. The louder the better. Mommy and Daddy do not ever want a stranger to pick her up.
Experience 2:
We're at our favorite chicken place playing on the playground. Ellie is up in amongst the tubes and is just sitting at the top of the slide. Gramma playfully asks the other little boy in the room if he would go check on her. The boy sticks his head inside the jungle gym and yells "Hey, stupid b!+c#, where are you?!" Shocked, we asked him "What did you just say?" and he repeats louder "Supid b!+c#, where are you!?"
My response:
Kids will be kids and you can not control someone else's child. Seriously, it's amazing the broad range of politeness that toddlers have, isn't it? However, it is completely inappropriate for this child to call my daughter a stupid b!+c# and his parents should know about it. I will walk up to his father and mother (poor lady because you know where the boy learned such language) and say something like "Your son just called my daughter a Stupid b!+c#. I don't care how you handle the situation but I just thought you should know."
Sigh. Next time - darn it! I'll try to think of how to properly handle situations that upset me quickly enough that I can actually apply my response.
3 comments:
What do you think about correcting someone else's child, when the parent won't do it or isn't around to do it? (For example the b**ch comment.)
I need to write a blog post about something that happened at the park where I disciplined someone else's child.
We've wondered how to handle other people's kids too. It's a fine line, isn't it? Luckily we haven't really experienced too many incidents where that would be necessary (obviously this is an exception). I'm curious to read your post, though, because we've discussed that very thing amongst ourselves with no conclusion. I think that's why if I could repeat this particular experience, I would just make sure the parents were aware. If we were going to be staying longer, I might have done something else. Not sure.
Ya got me thinking again, Niffer. I was going to post a comment here, but it turned really big again. So I posted it to my blog instead:
http://dullgeek.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-read-post-from-niffer-about-couple-of.html
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