'A kid bumped into me and his mother handled it in the worst way...'
"A kid bumped into me and his mother handled it in the worst way..."
Last weekend I was grocery shopping and I was walking down the aisle when all of a sudden a child that was running between the aisles bumped into me. I guess he must have been around 8 years old.
Now neither one of us fell or anything, but for the child it was quite the bump, he stumbled backwards a few steps. He looks up and says ''sorry mister." Just as I was about to say "it's okay buddy" his mother shows up behind him, grabs him by the wrists and leads him away. I hear her say "Don't apologize, it's his mistake he didn't see you.''
This actually shocked me. This child was behaving perfectly as any polite human being would, yet his mother is steering him towards rude behavior. The mother has obviously been entitled for who knows how long.
Nothing is ever her fault, everyone makes mistakes but her. But it saddens me that this child is now growing up to be just like her. He is learning this entitled behavior and his politeness is being driven away.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
[deleted] said:
The fact that he apologized in the first place makes me think he has at least someone in his life who teaches him how to behave properly, and he might understand by himself later how his mother is mistaken. I hope so anyway. He wouldn't be the first kid in history to be ashamed of his parent's terribly entitled and obnoxious behavior.
FiftyShadesOfPikmin said:
It's so bizarre to me when a child is so well behaved and their parent tries to undo that. I used to work in retail. Was walking through the baby aisle to go on my break. A woman and her daughter, maybe 5 or 6, we walking ahead of me. Little girl bumped into a rack and knocked a bunch of little clothes off onto the floor.
She reached down to start picking them up. I was just about to tell her "no, it's ok, I got this" when her mom yanks her away and says "don't clean that up, it's someone's job!" I hope that girl grows up and continues to be polite and thoughtful, and whatever adult that taught her that has more custody than her mom.
CeruleanFuge said:
There's been a steady degradation of personal responsibility in society, definitely more so in the last 4-5 years I think. I see it a lot when I drive - people making extremely dangerous left-hand turns for example, seemingly with the attitude "well if YOU don't want to have an accident, it's up to YOU to avoid it."
Successful_Club3005 said:
I've seen/ heard it a lot in my line of work. I've also witnessed mothers teaching/ showing their young kid(s) how to steal from stores. I'm serious as a heart attack.
snickerssmores said:
My ex-husband always told the kids and I that “only weak people apologize." However, I was raised to respect others. Luckily, I got my children away before he indoctrinated them with the same nonsense.
Frosty_Sink_7690 said:
As a Canadian parent, I’m puzzled - an apology would be appropriate here regardless of who was at fault. In Canada, if you accidentally make physical contact with someone, you apologize. There is no way that I would let my kid get away WITHOUT apologizing.
diavelguru said:
That’s how narcissists are created…no culpability whatsoever for their actions whatever they may be. Parents create those monsters.
Universally-Tired said:
I was at the self checkout at the grocery store. If you don't, the self checkouts are pretty close to each other. As I am scanning my stuff, there is a woman with two small kids in the register in front of mine. The 6 year old was standing behind his mother. He gets bored and restless and starts learning on my checkout scale.
Really, just the rack for the bags. But it was enough that it set off the sensor and told me to remove the item in the item from the bagging area. After a few times, I get his attention and kindly explain to him the situation.
He softly apologized with a smile. His mother notices and tells me not to speak to her child. If that were the end of it, I'd would have forgotten about it before leaving the store. But she turns to the boy and chews him out. WTH?