I was at Sams Club with dear love, and while I was waiting on him to go do something before we checked out I decided to sit down on one of the chairs they had nearby. I was resting and flipping through the latest Mother Earth News guide to living on less installment that I intended on buying (how's THAT for saving money? buying a magazine to tell me things I probably already know) when this family came up.
They were a nice looking family, well dressed, obviously had money, had two children, both boys, one looked between 1 and 2 years of age and the other looked to be 12. the parents spotted a group they knew and started chatting. well I did my little waving and smiling at the toddler who waved and smiled back.
I stopped reading my magazine to watch the adorable child. well the more the parents ignored the children the more the eldest son started picking on the toddler, getting him angrier and angrier until the toddler bit, kicked, hit and screamed.
the father kept coming over and was getting redder in the face, angrier and even grabbed the 12 boy and moved him back a step saying " quick picking on your little brother"
as I watched this I realized by the 12 year old's behavior he has some real pent up anger, and the baby was developing it quickly. I looked to the dad and saw how red and angry he got so fast and figured "well this is where they're getting it from"
the whole scene made me nervous but i didn't see anything so out right that i could call DHR. so I watched, pretending to read.
the entire time the mother ignored all this, yacking on with her equally well dressed friends.
so the 12 year old skulks away , occasionally trying tog et his dad's attention , where he is ignored, so the boy would do something, like climb on things, or do something destructive just so his father would angerly go over there and growl at him.
finally the 12 year old gives up and sits down by his parents who now have both walked away from the cart leaving the toddler alone, to talk.
the toddler looks around, realizes he's alone and in a blink of an eye, slips the child safety belt and stands up in the cart.
when i see this i throw down my magazine and race over and catch the child as he starts to topple out of the cart.
I said " woah woah woah! easy there sweety" as I do.
the father turns, sees me holding the kid and I say " He had climbed up and was about to fall"
the father mumbled an apology to me then turned to the 12 year old and said " boy you were suppose to be watching him!!"
at this point I retreat, and the father sets the toddler down, turns his back and goes back to talking... now with the toddler running loose.
the kid climbs on pallets in between things, gets into things and I am watching the child like a hawk.
at this point they realize I am staring, and gather their kids and head for the check out. meanwhile DL shows up and i follow him to check out which happens to be behind these people.
I am still stunned into silence....
and then it gets worse
the entire time I was worried that that boy was going to get hurt but I heard the mother, complaining at the cashier that a while ago she was here with her boys and her toddler fell out of the cart and sliced his forehead open. she pointed to the scar and said "see? now he'll have a scar for the rest of his life because of it, and all your people could do is tell me to wait there, refused to get him a paper towel or anything and said that I couldn't get any money for it. well i didn't ask for money."
my mouth dropped, and I know it did, I stared, quite openly and at that the mother, father and boys gathered their items and left and I said to the cashier " if she asks for money don't give it to her" and went on to tell the cashier everything I saw
now I wonder if I should have called someone. at the time i was stunned into not calling anyone. on top of it there was little real evidence to show who ever I called that this was little more than a bad day on everyones part.
now i keep thinking about the strangeness about this family, the sheer self centered attitudes of the parents, the boiling anger of the12 year old and the toddler who got hurt falling out of the cart in the same store once, left alone to almost do it again.
They were a nice looking family, well dressed, obviously had money, had two children, both boys, one looked between 1 and 2 years of age and the other looked to be 12. the parents spotted a group they knew and started chatting. well I did my little waving and smiling at the toddler who waved and smiled back.
I stopped reading my magazine to watch the adorable child. well the more the parents ignored the children the more the eldest son started picking on the toddler, getting him angrier and angrier until the toddler bit, kicked, hit and screamed.
the father kept coming over and was getting redder in the face, angrier and even grabbed the 12 boy and moved him back a step saying " quick picking on your little brother"
as I watched this I realized by the 12 year old's behavior he has some real pent up anger, and the baby was developing it quickly. I looked to the dad and saw how red and angry he got so fast and figured "well this is where they're getting it from"
the whole scene made me nervous but i didn't see anything so out right that i could call DHR. so I watched, pretending to read.
the entire time the mother ignored all this, yacking on with her equally well dressed friends.
so the 12 year old skulks away , occasionally trying tog et his dad's attention , where he is ignored, so the boy would do something, like climb on things, or do something destructive just so his father would angerly go over there and growl at him.
finally the 12 year old gives up and sits down by his parents who now have both walked away from the cart leaving the toddler alone, to talk.
the toddler looks around, realizes he's alone and in a blink of an eye, slips the child safety belt and stands up in the cart.
when i see this i throw down my magazine and race over and catch the child as he starts to topple out of the cart.
I said " woah woah woah! easy there sweety" as I do.
the father turns, sees me holding the kid and I say " He had climbed up and was about to fall"
the father mumbled an apology to me then turned to the 12 year old and said " boy you were suppose to be watching him!!"
at this point I retreat, and the father sets the toddler down, turns his back and goes back to talking... now with the toddler running loose.
the kid climbs on pallets in between things, gets into things and I am watching the child like a hawk.
at this point they realize I am staring, and gather their kids and head for the check out. meanwhile DL shows up and i follow him to check out which happens to be behind these people.
I am still stunned into silence....
and then it gets worse
the entire time I was worried that that boy was going to get hurt but I heard the mother, complaining at the cashier that a while ago she was here with her boys and her toddler fell out of the cart and sliced his forehead open. she pointed to the scar and said "see? now he'll have a scar for the rest of his life because of it, and all your people could do is tell me to wait there, refused to get him a paper towel or anything and said that I couldn't get any money for it. well i didn't ask for money."
my mouth dropped, and I know it did, I stared, quite openly and at that the mother, father and boys gathered their items and left and I said to the cashier " if she asks for money don't give it to her" and went on to tell the cashier everything I saw
now I wonder if I should have called someone. at the time i was stunned into not calling anyone. on top of it there was little real evidence to show who ever I called that this was little more than a bad day on everyones part.
now i keep thinking about the strangeness about this family, the sheer self centered attitudes of the parents, the boiling anger of the12 year old and the toddler who got hurt falling out of the cart in the same store once, left alone to almost do it again.
Last edited:
