Scenerio: You’re in a restaurant having lunch with a friend. The hostess seat a mother and two children ages two and five in a booth across from you, the youngest in a high chair. The mother orders and once the meals are delivered you over hear the mother say to the oldest, “you need to start eating.” A few minutes later you hear the mother tell the daughter, “if you don’t eat your not going to dance class”. The daughter continues looking around playing with things rather than eating. The mother’s voice gets angrier as she tells the daughter sternly, “start eating now!” Then, you see the mother, sitting across from the daughter, take her foot and attempt kick her daughter under the table. The daughter lifted her legs so her mother wouldn’t hit her. What would you do? Would you do nothing or would you say something to the mother?
Yes, the daughter was ignoring her mother, getting up on the seat and looking around, rather than eating, even after the mother’s threat of not taking her to dance class. The question is, why? Repetition…repeated training. The daughter knew the mother’s threats were just that, due to repetition.
This is an actual occurrence that I witnessed while having lunch one afternoon. And, yes, I did say something to that mother. In fact, every customer in the restaurant heard me. I sat, listened and watched as the mother sat across from her threatening no dance class, no dessert, quite evident that this was the mothers normal method of child discipline. It was when the mother took her foot and began kicking at the daughter’s legs that I saw red, and yelled, yes yelled, “Hey, you don’t kick children.” Her remark to me was, “I’m a good mother!” To which I remarked, “Really? Right, kicking at a child makes you a good mother!” After which, the daughter began eating, and they left without any other occurrence.
The problem, in my opinion, wasn’t with the daughter. All children push. The problem was the actions of the mother. Rather than moving her fat butt over to the other side of the booth next to her daughter, a more positive disciplinary action, she reverted to physical abuse by kicking under the table. Not what I consider being a “good mother.”
What’s your opinion?
Seniam Nevets
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