to think I would want someone's head too if they slapped my child?

[ThingyTheBusCleaner]

linky

Morrisons shop assistant sacked for slapping a four year old customer. What was she thinking??!!

This is my town....the story in the local paper said that the employee tapped the kids hand. The DM now have it as slapped the back of his legs. Not like them to exaggerate....

I find it amazing that anyone can describe a smack as a "friendly tap".

What could possibly be friendly about hitting a child, FGS?

Tap, thump, smack, hit. They are all the same - unacceptable and you can't make them OK by calling them gentle or friendly.

a loving punch in the face

He shouldn't have been slapped but he should have picked up the plastic bag he threw on the floor when asked.

an affectionate and caring kick in the teeth

Well..Im thinking something must have happened. Its not a complete fabrication - or is it?

If you smack a child and then say to the mum "oh it was just a friendly tap" that doesn't make it acceptable anyway. "Don't touch" is the safest bet.

If somebody slapped my child they'd get a bigger slap from me.

I don't care what my dc have done. They could've set your bloody hair on fire! Nobody touches my kids!

Well, you can tell which side DM readers are on, judging by the red and green arrows - very strongly in favour of anyone being allowed to hit anybody else's children, at any time, for whatever reason they see fit
Cue the 'bring back National Service' comments.

They were joking about it, in the way parents do "if you carry on being naughty then the lady behind the counter will tell you off" etc.

As far as I am aware, calling it a "smack" is grossly over stating what actually happened.

Poorly judged action by the cashier nevertheless. Morrisons have given a fairly bland statement they wouldn't confirm that they had sacked her.

If she'd done it to an adult she would have been arrested never mind sacked.

What planet is she on that she would think this was an ok thing to do to a young child.

I can see we have some posters here who's children have never ever misbehaved in a supermarket check-out queue! "Spoiled brat"? "Little shit"? Yes, he was acting up from the sound of it but he's 4 FFS!

Excuse

If she'd walloped him then the police would be taking interest...but they're not.

I like the way she says she will "never set foot in one of your stores again" as if smacking unruly children is some kind of company policy.

Well she obviously did I something or she wouldn't have been sacked. It doesn't matter if it was a wallop or a slap. She needs to learn to keep her hands to herself.

She's as likely to have resigned as been sacked.

You can be sacked for lots of things that wouldn't get you arrested.

As I said, it was a poorly judged thing she did.

The fact that the article isn't accompanied by a big red handprint suggests that this is a load of DM bollocks.

If the child was being a badly behaved brat (he was throwing things around and not picking them up when told - who knows what else he was making himself a nuisance at?), the mother should have dealt with it more stridently. Staff and other customers were probably annoyed at his behaviour. I would not tap any child that was not mine but it probably needed something like that if you ask me. OK you'll all say that you're not asking me.

I would not have wanted anyone to lose their job over it though. People need their jobs.

Haha... Thought so

There ya go sienna don't believe all the 'headlines' you see!

I work in retail.... A lot if the time children are used in itder to shoplift. Amazing what goes on. He was a bit of a distraction wasn't he.

Nothing excuses a child bring hit tho, nothing

Maybe the mother was trying to get her shopping packed and paid for as quickly as possible so she could get the heck out of the shop and then deal with her child? That's what I'd do, especially if there were people behind me in the queue.

Anyone are you implying that child was being used for the mother to shoplift?

since when was a 4-year-old a toddler?!

Just because she (the mother) wasn't dealing with her child in the manner that the cashier thought was necessary doesn't mean she wasn't going to discipline him. If mine acts up in a supermarket queue (which he does occasionally, because he's 3 and shopping is extremely boring when you are 3, especially if you are tired and/or hungry) then I just try and get him the heck out of the shop as quickly as possible so as not to annoy the staff and other customers.

anyone, I was simply pointing out that your post was incorrect. The article did say morrisons had sacked her even if the actual quote from morrisons was ambiguous. Try to understand what you read before asking people not to believe what they read.

I don't believe that story AT ALL.

She admits he was playing up, didn't see the "smack" and then told the world, he "was bawling his little eyes out".

I doubt that was from the smack, but more from the shock of someone actually following through with a threat and disciplining him.

If he was actually behaving in the first place none of this would have happened.

I've seen too many brats in the supermarket playing up and the parents doing nothing about it..this story just seems too much of "someone parented my son and I didn't like it"