O/T Another rant...

So Nancy's rant got me in a rant mood, along the same lines - what is wrong with some people!

Yesterday I'm in line at a small local grocery store. Woman in front of me checking out, with her granddaughter - I don't know, 4 years old.

Kid is looking at me, smiles, I smile back, cute kid. Grandma not paying attention to the girl whatsoever. Kid is picking up candy from the "impulse buy" rack, putting it back, picking up another one, dropping it on the floor, picking up more...you get the picture. Grandma is oblivious.

Girl still smiling at me, so I say, smiling, "Ah ah ah, you shouldn't pick it up if you're not going to buy it!" She puts the candy back, still smiling. Grandma now pays attention, picks up the dropped candy, half-turns to me and says, snotty, "I WOULD have bought it." I just smiled.

Whatever lady. It's a store, not a playhouse. Pay attention to what the kid's doing. Since when did we stop teaching our kids to ASK first?

Maybe I was out of line, but it was all good natured. I just think kids should be taught to ask before picking things like that up, especially something small that they could easily slip in their pocket, with or without thinking it's wrong.

I don't think a 4 year old has any concept of "buying", but whatever. These days, you have to be happy that the child didn't respond with an F/U!

Remember: It takes a village.

I think I was more suprised at the grandma not knowing what the kid was doing (it went on for a while), and then being "accepting" of it instead of "Honey, put that back."

Since when did it take a VILLAGE!?!
When we were young, you pick it up, you better have money to pay for it in your pocket. Or you catch it with the strap when you get to the car.
Sorry but don't know what VILLAGE those people came from but it "won't from around here."

What about the Village People?

I always loved that "YMCA" song!

Face it jhilyer...........you've just lost your touch with the women.

Tell me something I don't know!

And every village has an idiot and a drunk - remember they get to raise your kid too.

I don't think I'd want to touch that grandma.

A couple of years ago I was in a home depot - a mother pushing her kid around in the shopping cart. Kid's probably 3 - 4 years old at the most - standing in the cart.

Mother's OBLIVIOUS - talking to her friend - looking around.

Just leaves the kid standing there while she's off looking at something around the corner in the next aisle.

First of all - in this day and age, do you really abandon your kid in a store? With some strange man (me) standing nearby???

But the more immediate danger (since at least *I* know I'm not a danger) - the store is LOADED with "do not let children stand in carts" "tipping hazard" signs, and other such messages - they even recite them over and over again over the speakers, constantly drilling it into your head.

but there's little johnny - standing in a shopping cart - all alone in the plumbing aisle.

Not only is he STANDING in the cart - he's leaning WAY over to try to reach something on a shelf.

Now I can see what's about to happen...

BUT - and it's sick you have to consider such things....

but do I go over and hold the cart so he doesn't flip? What's this woman going to say when she comes around the corner and I'm standing there holding the cart with her kid in it? All of a sudden *I* will be the bad guy and probably get arrested.

Or do I just turn and walk away?

I erred on the side of saving the kid's skull. (though perhaps I should have let evolution run its course...?)

The mother did not come back. I told the kid to sit, and I went to find the mother.

I explained to her what happened and that she might want to take the kid out of the cart. She just shrugged me off like I was being rude.

Not 5 minutes later I'm walking down another aisle - there they are - kid's standing in the cart. Mother's chatting with friend. Kid's reaching for another item on the shelf - and SHOCKER - the cart flips over.

LUCKY for the kid - the shelf stopped him from going flat on his face. It slowed his fall.

Mother grabbed the kid and starts screeching at him "see - see how stupid that was - that wasn't very smart was it".

... I at least got the satisfaction of having her see me standing there shaking my head.

But what else can you do.

The real sick thing is, if that kid HAD broken his skull open, you KNOW that woman would have stopped in at a lawyers office on her way to the hospital. AND she would have won a huge settlement.

It seems people are more concerned with 'defending' themselves when other people try to make good-natured suggestions, instead of LISTENING politely and maybe taking the advice...

Instead, who were YOU to tell HER how to handle her kid...

...but then the very thing happend that you tried to warn her about!

People need to chill out and not be so defensive.

yeah - but at least I got that satisfaction - justice was served (at the poor kids expense).

It's worse when you have to leave something like that as "the bad guy", without that satisfaction, which is most often the case.

Can't tell you the number of parents. I have wanted to slap. For letting the kids run wild.

I saw a little girl, maybe 3 or 4, throwing a full scale tantrum in Lowe's. Sitting on the floor kicking, screaming, etc. Mother just walked on and let her go. For me, it would have been a quick trip to the car for a little correction on the seat of learning. Parenting skills are lacking too often.

Larry

Don't EVER get between mama bear and her cubs. Right or wrong you will get he claws and maybe some teeth too.

Ain't THAT the truth!!!

What bugs me when there's 10 people in line and only about 4 are buying anything.The woman ahead of me had two little kids that kept grabbing the candy and the mother would put it back and fought
to keep them in line.She wasn't buying anything,just standing behind her mother.Why not take your two kids and wait up front?No reason to even be in line.

My concept of "it takes a village" has to do with the small town where I grew up. Not only was correcting kids' behavior EVERYONE's business, it seemed...but if we screwed up on one side of town, by the time we got home to the other side of town Mom already had received a couple of phone calls telling her the details...and at MY house, depending on the severity of the offense, that meant either the belt or the buggy whip [Mom raised horses].