Saturday, May 16, 2009

Witnessing an UGLY Moment

Last night I was rummaging through our storage unit for a few items. Right across from our unit was a mom, her 2 boys, and her screaming baby, who were sitting in the front of a really old, rusted SUV. As I was on the phone with Rob trying to locate something, this lady just started screaming at her kids. It's late at night, dark, (and this lady was rather large and rough looking) ---thought I should add that, but anyways, her boys, who were around 10 & 6 were apparently trying to prepare a bottle for the baby. I guess they added too much formula or something that made their mom so irate, I'm not really sure, all I know is that the mom just started shredding those boys with the most abusive and foul language. It was so bad and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I froze. At first I was thinking, I can't believe she doesn't care that I'm standing so close and can hear what she was saying. I wanted to say something, but honestly was a little frightened of this trashy mom. Think of a mid 35-year old woman who looks like she lived out in the woods in a shack of a cabin and could split wood with her axe with one swift chop. There were a few softball bats in our storage unit, and I thought of grabbing one and going over and beating her with it. I kept trying to think of what I should do, but had a feeling that I might just make things worse for those boys and she might take out her anger on them even more after all was said and done. --Maybe that's just a cop out, but regardless...I can't get it out of my mind. I was instantly so angry and shaky and wanted to go take this lady OUT, how dare she talk to HER kids that way, but I was scared... When I got out of there I called Rob and he tried to make me feel better. I asked him what he would have done, he said he'd have called the Cops. I wish I would have. I wonder if that baby was even in a car seat. They were all shoved in the front seat. There's no way it could have seated 4 people legally. I'm so mad at myself! It was such an ugly moment! All I can think of how horrible it is for those kids. And I didn't say anything. I don't know...I guess I know what I would say and do next time if I was ever in this situation again. But the really sad thing is that I'm sure it's so common for those poor kids and for so many others kids who have shoddy parents. Today, I have made a concerted effort to speak softly and nicely to Spencer & Carter and to take my role and calling as their Mom a little more seriously.

Just thinking about it gets me all worked up again. I don't know, have you ever witnessed an ugly moment like this? What did you do? If, in the future you did, what will you do?

4 comments:

Magnusons said...

That's a hard call, because you just don't know what the psycho lady would do, to you or her kids, or your kids??? You never know with people these days. I guess I probably would have called the cops on my way out of there, but don't beat yourself up over it. It's a tough situation for anyone!I agree, I have seen some stupid parents out there yelling at their kids in public. Makes you think how they treat them at home???? Sad!

Larry, Shanda, Aana, and Addison said...

Ugh...When we were in Seattle I witnessed something similiar...and I ended up confronting the dad that was the offender in the incident. It lead to a stream of profanities (not from me)...and no resolution. I hurt SO badly for his children and found myself praying for them. I just don't understand how people can be like that. Kids are challenging, yes...but they are SO full of LOVE! Sorry you had to witness that...it is an eyeopener!

Piano Mom said...

Sadly, I think there are a lot of children who suffer from such treatment and even calling the cops probably wouldn't have fixed anything. I remember someone once saying that even to do something as basic as getting a driver's license, you have to take a class, put in lots of practice time and then pass a test...but anyone can have kids.

Jacy said...

It's so sad to hear about (and in your case, witness) moments like this, when young kids are living in such harsh, awful environments! I don't know what I would have done... tough call. You're right about the fact that she could end up taking things out even more on the kids. And even calling the cops would have probably caused her to be more angry in the end. What we all CAN do though, is love our kids even more, and make sure we let them know through our soft words, patience and kindness! I'm glad I read this post today. It makes me want to ALWAYS use soft words when speaking to my kids (even when I want to pull my hair out!)