Parents, control your demon-children!

[storytimewithjoe]

In preparation for the weekend, I headed off yesterday to the grocery store to pick up some needed supplies. There, I had the unfortunate experience of running into the single most demonic child I think I have ever seen – EVER! From the moment I walked into the store, the screeching from the little banshee shattered the very frequency of my brain. It wasn’t that they kid was crying. Annoying as that would have been, I would have had a bit more tolerance for a kid in the middle of a complete hissy-fit. That is, after all, just one of those things that many kids do from time to time. But no, demon-child was just shrieking for the sake of shrieking. His parents, who acted completely oblivious to their child’s behavior, simply shopped around the store, checking off items from the grocery list. Almost as if they hoped he would lose them, they wandered on, eyes on the shelves and not on their child. After all, he was certainly in ear-shot! Never mind that he may have been impaled on the end of a silver-tipped spike.

 

As the arguably LOUSY parents shopped around the store, demon-child would propel himself against cardboard display stands, pick items off the shelves and then throw them on the ground. “HEY!” I yelled at some point, furious because the parents were doing absolutely nothing. “Knock it OFF!” Demon-child would make eye contact with me, but not change his behavior. The parents didn’t even do that much. I have no idea if any of them spoke English, but I would like to think that the look on my face and tone of my voice said it all. Soon after, little Beelzeebub was climbing into the big bin of beans, with both grubby arms stuck deep in them, shrieking in his ear-piercing tone the whole time. “KID!!!!” I yelled while gesturing. “Get OUT of there!” Not sure if the kid understood, or simply got tired of this old act of terror, he pulled out of the bin, and ran off, while shrieking and throwing beans hither and yon. And calmly, as if this is simply the norm, a store employee came out from a side room with a big push broom to clean up after the little terror.

 

Seriously, WTF????! And just as I thought I might catch a break, I heard the brat turn up the volume to his shrieking. “For the lov-ah GOD!” I said out loud to nobody in particular. “Kid! Give it a REST!” People around me chuckled a bit, but did not speak up or make a move.

 

Now, I know that it is not my job to police other people’s kids. And trust me, I have no desire to take on the responsibility. Parenting is a huge, huge, HUGE job, and certainly not an easy one. But for cryin’ out loud, what the heck is with some parents?!!!!!! I have no earthly idea what issue or issues this demon-child must be having, but these parents were being so irresponsible by allowing him to behave in such a way. They may not be able to control his shrieking (although ball-gags DO work wonders), but there is no way in hell that a demon-child should be allowed to run rampant through a grocery store, touching, throwing, and breaking things. Had I been the Store Manager, I would have thrown the entire demon-coven out the door.

 

If “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child” is truly the guiding principle, then this kid needs a good whippin’. As for the parents, I think we need to call in the Taliban.

 

Comments

[xrian.livejournal.com]

I used to work in a food co-op, and we got all the kids at 4:00PM who had not had their afternoon naps. The parents usually looked like they just wanted to sink through the floor with embarrassment, though most of them did try to ride herd on the chaos as far as possible while still getting the necessary shopping done. They had my profound sympathies (I don't have my own kids but I'm an experienced aunt).

One day there was one little monster who wandered up to the front of the store and started jumping up and down on the big bags of dry dog food. This is Not A Good Thing because if a bag breaks, it can't be sold at full price. I was working in the area, so I went over to the kid and said "Hey! No jumping on the dog food bags." The kid gave me the eye, grinned and went right on doing it. So I squatted down so I was at his eye level, took him gently by the shoulders to keep him from jumping, and said, "NO JUMPING on the dog-food bags."

His mother proceeded to complain because I had TOUCHED her CHILD.

This was many years ago. I wouldn't do that now because I'd probably run a significant risk of being charged with assault. (Sigh.)

Too bad the old policy of "your kid ruins something, you pay for it" has gone out of style.

[conjurman.livejournal.com]

My response to these situations is to go to the manager of the store and say, "I need to buy several things, and I shop here frequently, however if you can do nothing about a shrieking child annoying some of your other paying customers then for the time being I will take my money and my business elsewhere and perhaps discover I like elsewhere better. And of course I'll be sure to tell all my friends who shop here about the new store, where they will then take their money."

I won't say this works. I've done it twice, and didn't shop in the store in question for about 8 months one time, but returned there because they did have the best prices. I'm also disappointed in parents, and try to avoid them.

[kittyblue.livejournal.com]

Ball gags are pricey. Duct tape works better - you can tie their arms down at their sides, too.

[caitlincw.livejournal.com]

The child's behavior sounds like mental illness to me. All the more reason for the parents NOT to bring him into a public place he cannot handle. And if he's acting this way now with no control... I don't like to think what will happen later!