Saw something v sad in Hyde Park today - still thinking about it.

[Milomonster]

I was sat in a bench in Hyde Park today and a little boy of around 2.5-3 was scooting happily on his scooter with his father behind him. A few minutes later, the child walked past and was crying whilst his father was a few feet in front of him with scooter in his hand. He seems pretty angry. They walked towards the mother and the father picked up his other child’s scooter (second child had been standing with his mother all along) and put both of them in the bin. I was gobsmacked. I just don’t understand his reaction to such a tiny child. I just remember how happy and carefree the boy was as scooter past.

I looked in the bin and they were brand new and expensive (not that that matters at all). I thought of those poor kids and how they must get treated if this was a snapshot of their father.

Timefortea99 - yes.

You’re looking at a snapshot. Forget it

I guess the bit of me that wants to believe in humanity thinks that maybe the little boy had just scooted out in front of a car. The dad had a massive panic and had that kind of terror/anger that you get when you've come close to something really horrific. He binned both scooters in a 'scooters aren't safe' mad moment and will regret it later.

Of course, I've just made that up in my head - but then so is anything else that anyone says here as we don't know the story.

Its a snapshot. You don’t know what really happened, or how they raise their boys.
My kids have done silly things with scooters, and dangerous things. Including one at 6yo knocking over an old lady - after being warned repeatedly to slow down.
And - honestly I was close to binning a scooter once. And issued a final warning then.
I do also sometimes do ‘joint responsibility’ - so if one misbehaves - both get punished....

Parenting isn’t easy. We’ll never know what really happened.

Of course it was a snapshot. The child was in a park - no cars. He was no more than 3. Toddlers make mistakes but is such harshness justified? I can understand with an older child who may have done something dangerous/irresponsible.

That sounds awful. The kids won't forget.

Loosing it like that kids is a mistake and is BAD parenting. My kids drove me crazy sometimes but I still managed not to react like a raging idiot. I'm the adult. 😕. Big dramatic punishments given out in a pique of anger aren't going to be effective. You need consistent and fair punishment that children can understand ie verbal warning, second warning, removal of screen privileges or whatever.

Some parents are just horrible. I watched a family at the next checkout at Asda yesterday. There were 2 teenage lads they looked shy and placid. The mother ( I assume) was trying to put items through the self service checkout but didn't seem to understand the concept that the bar code had to be scanned and she was just getting angry. The lads knew how to do it and were genuinely trying to help but this horrible woman was just being verbally horrible to them and shoving them to one side. I felt really sorry for them and they just looked bewildered.

OP "Mother stood and watched. Father stormed ahead like a stroppy idiot."

yes, you time travelled back to my childhood.

posters saying "it's a snapshot" - I don't know. Clearly I'm biased, but someone who loses it and does something that irrational in public is probably having far worse rages behind closed doors. Dad only stopped being that guy in public because it ruined his image.

I remember the broken toys - physically broken - or toys chucked in bins due to one small thing that got on his nerves.

if the guy was creating a drama for some reason, that's a bad sign too.

On my 5th birthday I was given a space hopper as my present. I went up and down the back garden when my older brother tried to take it of me, naturally I started to cry.
My father got a screw driver and burst the hopper. Even now nearly 60 years later I still remember that birthday and so does my brother. Father is dead.
That poor child will remember that incident forever.

Gard21 That's a very sad story; I'm not surprised you both still remember it.

Looks like the older sibling was also punished for the younger ones perceived misdemeanor. It's common in some families for older siblings to be blamed for younger children's naughtiness as they are supposed to teach them/model how to behave and be responsible for them.

DH's family are like that but he knew better than to try that crap with our DC.

IME all siblings will be punished when one does something "wrong" yes.

For those saying the child may have been small for their age- so what? So it's still ok to do this to a 5/6 year old? I wouldn't do this to my 11 year old or my 7 year old- it's ott and shows a complete lack of self control and a disregard for the environment that we are rapidly destroying! Hideous behaviour on many levels.

Gard21 gave us a ‘snapshot’ of their childhood right there, yet they’ve never forgotten it.

The snapshot argument is a poor one in the face of such needless anger.

I hope you see the mum again in the park. Perhaps you could reach out to her in some way?

I saw a mother throw away FOUR plastic lunchboxes and several tennis balls in Kensington Gardens once! Not in anger but as PP said, an Arab family who maybe see such things as disposable.

Maybe that’s the kind of thing they do in their culture?

Yes it's a snapshot. A snapshot of an angry adult man taking his anger out on two young children by taking away things that bring them happiness. When they got home do you think he spoke to them calmly and they understood the 'lesson' and everyone moved on? Really?

They won't forget it and such an extreme reaction isn't one a usually kind and reasonable parent would have.

It's not the loss of their toys that will stick in their hearts btw. It's the humiliation and fear that they'll remember.

EnidButton is absolutely right.

And you know the worst thing?

In 20 or 30 years time, if either of them bring it up he will deny it ever happened.

My mother is convinced that my sister and I make things up about our childhood because the incidents that we remember with 100% clarity simply didnt matter enough to her to remember. The time we were made to stand in the corner, on holiday (!), and my then 4 year old sister was so frightened to ask to go to the toilet that she wet herself.....didnt happen. :( Her utter lack of interest or remorse in some ways hurts more than what she did in the first place.

Yet she remembers every slight, real or perceived, against her. I have long suspected Narc tendencies..........

Tallwivglasses - she was wearing a niqab and so I’d never recognize her.

Gard - heartbreaking. This thread has been an eye opener as It hadn’t occurred to me how many memories we hold onto from being small children.

That child probably has a new scooter already. However much money you have tge behaviour is cruel to a child. Not to mention wasteful. Here we are worrying about plastic packaging and yet other people will bin a scooter or a plastic lunch box without any thought for the waste of it or the damage they might be doing to earth or their child. It must be horrendous not to have any money and live in extreme poverty. It is equally as bad to have too much money, enough that you can throw brand new items away without a care, it must make your morally poor.

That poor child will probably grow up and pass their attitude to their children. The woman has no voice its seems.

From the first post, I could hazard a guess what this was leading to, and lo and behold, it was revealed. Let's create a thread to criticise Arabs and niqab.

Personally I think we don't know enough to know why he chukked it in the bin & make judgements. Maybe the child was hurting people, or being rude or was given an ultimatum - if you behave like this your scooter will be taken away from you. I sometimes put ultimatums down for my children too. I can recall my child throwing a tantrum at the entrance of our local express that she wanted a packet of crisps. She was only 2, and she lay down on the floor at the entrance and I just left her to it. Sounds cruel but I knew I had to visit Tesco express everyday, and she never insisted on it again, as she realised I wasn't going to give in, and made our daily visit so much more enjoyable. Sometimes you have to give tough love.

let's imagine a moment the child has a new scooter

my dad did that too - not because we were rich but he'd lose his temper, break a toy, e.g. a plastic saucepan (yes I really had one, lol) and then feel guilty a few days later and replace it.

as a child, I was meant to say "thank you daddy!"

but no, it's more like, gosh, hope the maggots are having a good meal out of you.

these "Snapshot" types annoy me. It's pretty clear when a child is being treated badly. and if you have all the money in the world, then binning the item in temper is still a show of anger and power and general nastiness to the child.