At the Saturday morning tiny-tots soccer game, a fine little fellow from the opposing team ran up the sidelines to holler, "[Angry Kid's team] sucks balls!" Parents all looked around in disbelief, while he ran back to give everyone the bird. One of us gave him a tongue-lashing, and he returned to his own team. After halftime, he came back one last time to yell, "You can suck me!" Then I grabbed him by his little shoulder and, in my best Hillary Clinton imitation, I told him he would now go back to his side of the field and he would not come back. He agreed and we did not see him again.
The parents speculated a bit about where a six-year-old would see this sort of behavior modeled and what sort of parent would approve of it.
Later that afternoon the Angry Baker and I visited Walmart, and as we walked across the parking lot a minivan screeched to a halt not far from us. The father, driving, twisted in his seat to yell at his two- and four-year-old sons: "Sit the fuck down! The next time one of you move I'm going to beat the mother-fucking shit out of you!"
Sunday, September 13, 2009
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13 comments:
I've seen a woman scream at her toddler in Walmart once because the kid was crying while the woman was talking away on a cell phone, what made it really horrible in my opinion was that the woman screamed "Fucking shut up already! You're a fucking mistake and have ruined my life since you were born! Shut the fucking hell up before I belt you one across the face!" You could hear the woman about 3 aisles over.
I am a high school teacher. After Parent-Teacher Conferences, my colleagues and I all discuss how the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.
I LOVE YOUR BLOG. POST MORE OFTEN.
I'll admit I swear in front of my kids, but I don't allow them to repeat it and they know they would be in big trouble if they pulled the stunts that little boy did.
My Dearest Angry,
Perhaps it is the new school year giving you stress, but aren't you the one who, in your very last post, introduced us all to the beauty that is PeopleOfWalMart.com?
Also, be sure to print out your WalMart Bingo card here.
Good heavens. [sigh]
Oh my. I've got two little energizer bunny motormouths, and I admit I have spit those immortal words, "shut up!" from my mouth (there's nothing like having one barking and repeating "STUPID DOG!" over and over again while the screams in disdain, hits the other one, and yells "You're hurting my EARS!" over and over and over again). At which point I promptly pulled over, got out of teh van, walked ten paces away, and counted blades of grass until I got control of myself to be an actual parent instead of screaming spoiled brat. Then I went back and apologized to my children for my language, and explained my expectations of them in a more calm tone.
There is plenty of room to get out of the car in teh Walmart parking lot. Seriously.
Since kids where I live don't trick or treat door to door anymore, the local businesses hand out candy. A couple of years ago a boy about 6 years old rushed into the Walgreens I was in, held out his bag and yelled "trick or treat motherfucker!". He was grinning ear to ear. I honestly don't think he understood what he said.
As sad as it was, I have to admit it made me laugh.
"trick or treat motherfucker!"
Samuel L Jackson trick-or-treats?
Swearing at/in front of kids is definitely different from what I'm used to -- even as a foul-mouthed college kid I watched my language around kids (I did slip up once while babysitting, however, saying "dang" in front of a promptly-horrified 5-year-old, who was mollified by my immediate pact with him promising that neither of us would ever swear again. :p)
Swearing at kids doesn't bother me as much as the reeeally psychologically abusive stuff though; I heard a mother/nanny-type at a waterpark furiously berating a little boy as she dragged him into the women's bathroom and calling him a "filthy, dirty little animal!" So I'd still take a pottymouthed parent over that, at least...
People of Walmart.
http://peopleofwalmart.com/
There's no audio, but the pictures leave enough to the imagination.
Well, here's the OED definition of "sad" if I ever saw one. I propose sending out copies of Shakespearean insults nationwide. "Thou'rt the very bile in an alligator's throat" packs a lot of punch.......
I revel in my Advancing Age; I'm no longer restrained from going up to such people and saying what I think - in only the most elegant language. Of course, if I said it in Greek they'd understand as much.
It is to weep.
Re: sit the f**k down... Wouldn't kids that age have to be in car seats?
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