“Lady you need to move!”
Not bothering to look behind me, I said “Sorry, I’ll be done in a second”
“Move bitch.”
Oh no, you are not about to disrespect me in public like that. I turned around fully expecting to see a grown woman behind me, but I saw nothing. I looked down and I saw nothing but 2 and a half feet of three year old standing there with the fiercest face I’ve ever seen. I had to stop a second and make sure I was in my right mind before I spoke.
“Sweetie, where is your mother? You know you shouldn’t speak to grown ups like that.”
“Don’t worry bout me and my mama she’s coming. You need to move, okay”
There I stood, a completely grown woman about to get in an argument with a toddler. I was really about to come out of my face with some grown folks words and hurl them at a child. At the grocery store about to get into it with someone whose idol is Dora the Explorer. All I could do was gather my stuff from the self-checkout, and leave in silent fury.
What made me angrier than anything in this situation was the fact that the child is obviously smart. Very few kids that young, she couldn’t have been a day over 4 years, can string sentences together that well. And there she stood spewing cuss words and the like. If her mother had only paid attention to her daughter’s linguistic prowess, and nurtured that quality, maybe she’d be more skilled at expressing herself properly.
Parents, again I beg you all to take a look at the things your toddlers are saying and doing. Whether or not you want to believe this, your children pay attention to everything you say and do. You may be aware of some of your bad habits, and therefore tell your children to “do as I say, not as I do”. But children, being the sponges that they are will want to mimic your every move regardless of what you tell them. If you’re always in somebody’s face swearing like a sailor and showing off otherwise unsavory behavior, guess what—your child will have a propensity to do the same thing. You might really think it’s cute the first time you see little Jaquenisha catch an attitude with a grown person, but please realize that her little “act” didn’t come out of the blue. She learned how to do that from you and the other adults she’s around all the time. Also, if you find yourself in a position where you have to get stank with someone, but your child is right there, do what you have to do. Just remember to explain after the incident that what you did is not something that should be done every day, nor is that behavior acceptable in most situations.
It’s bad enough that we have to deal with piss-poor attitudes from other adults, so to have to deal with the same and worse from very young children is absolutely unacceptable. I swear, the next ornery toddler that I have to deal with will be told that Santa’s not real. That’ll show em!
Not bothering to look behind me, I said “Sorry, I’ll be done in a second”
“Move bitch.”
Oh no, you are not about to disrespect me in public like that. I turned around fully expecting to see a grown woman behind me, but I saw nothing. I looked down and I saw nothing but 2 and a half feet of three year old standing there with the fiercest face I’ve ever seen. I had to stop a second and make sure I was in my right mind before I spoke.
“Sweetie, where is your mother? You know you shouldn’t speak to grown ups like that.”
“Don’t worry bout me and my mama she’s coming. You need to move, okay”
There I stood, a completely grown woman about to get in an argument with a toddler. I was really about to come out of my face with some grown folks words and hurl them at a child. At the grocery store about to get into it with someone whose idol is Dora the Explorer. All I could do was gather my stuff from the self-checkout, and leave in silent fury.
What made me angrier than anything in this situation was the fact that the child is obviously smart. Very few kids that young, she couldn’t have been a day over 4 years, can string sentences together that well. And there she stood spewing cuss words and the like. If her mother had only paid attention to her daughter’s linguistic prowess, and nurtured that quality, maybe she’d be more skilled at expressing herself properly.
Parents, again I beg you all to take a look at the things your toddlers are saying and doing. Whether or not you want to believe this, your children pay attention to everything you say and do. You may be aware of some of your bad habits, and therefore tell your children to “do as I say, not as I do”. But children, being the sponges that they are will want to mimic your every move regardless of what you tell them. If you’re always in somebody’s face swearing like a sailor and showing off otherwise unsavory behavior, guess what—your child will have a propensity to do the same thing. You might really think it’s cute the first time you see little Jaquenisha catch an attitude with a grown person, but please realize that her little “act” didn’t come out of the blue. She learned how to do that from you and the other adults she’s around all the time. Also, if you find yourself in a position where you have to get stank with someone, but your child is right there, do what you have to do. Just remember to explain after the incident that what you did is not something that should be done every day, nor is that behavior acceptable in most situations.
It’s bad enough that we have to deal with piss-poor attitudes from other adults, so to have to deal with the same and worse from very young children is absolutely unacceptable. I swear, the next ornery toddler that I have to deal with will be told that Santa’s not real. That’ll show em!
6 Comments:
I hear you, Tasha.
I see it all of the time... and some parents actually think that it is cute.
I despair of the things that parents are teaching our people.
It pains me to think what kind of adults these children will end up becoming.
You should have told the kid that Santa doesn't exist.
I had a few boys tell me "Move, bitch" in Adams Morgan a few months ago...and that just pissed me off really badly. I let them have it.
You know those kids see their parents do it and mimic it. I've seen too many poor parents encourage bad behavior. Also, a lot of these parents don't know how to show love for their kids ("Shut up!" and "Leave me alone...shit!" are things I constantly hear them telling their kids), so their kids don't know how to respect others from such.
These people are just perpetuating a cycle of hate.
Oh...and yesterday when I went to get a laptop case I heard some woman say something politely (perhaps a little too politely) to her kid, and he replies with "SHUT UP!" Mom was obviously too timid to say anything back, so I said "watch your mouth, brat!" or something in those lines. Harsh, but had to be said.
It's like that episode of "Boondocks" (the only episode I've seen so far) where some woman is about to break into tears because she doesn't know how to punish her unruly son in the store. Grandpa comes out and pulls out his belt, loaning it to the woman. The woman is suddenly empowered, and starts to whoop her son's behind.
I don't condone violence, but the opposite of being a rude, uncaring parent is being a timid one. If parents learn how to be assertive and set boundaries, then they won't raise children that get away with telling their parents "shut up." Had I said that to my parents when I was a kid, I'd definitely get a whoopin'.
I would have waited for the kid's mother and if the mother wouldn't have done anything, I would have embarrassed the mother. The kid obviously does not know any better.
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