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??!!

smiles you're one of those who sees all children as the enemy who must be subdued at all costs aren't you?

Agree with smiles here.

No. I'm one of those who think parents need to actually tell their kids off, especially when they are playing up and stop thinking that they are so precious, adorable and everyone loves their antics.

I don't think they are the enemy at all. Crap parenting is.

Oh and yes. My own kids have acted out in shops before. The difference is, I told them off, took them home and shopped online instead until they learnt to behave and that NO ment NO.

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

Oh so that makes the whole thing ok then

But, smilesandpiles, what if this had happened to you and your child on one of the occasions that your child acted up before you decided on online shopping? How do we know that the child in Morrisons does this regularly and that the mother Is okay with it?

If my son acts up in a supermarket I'm angry and embarrassed, but my strategy is get my shopping packed and paid for as quickly as possible then get him outside and deal with him. Just because I don't shout or slap his legs in front of other shoppers doesn't mean I think it's acceptable behaviour or that I'm a crap parent!

I don't think anyone finds my children adorable and I tell them off when they need it. However I think if your general assumption of a child playing up in the supermarket (in that few minutes you witness out of their whole lives) is that they're an out of control brat then you have limited thought processes and are unpleasantly judgemental.

Fwiw my dc have ASD and my dd especially regularly "plays up" in supermarkets, no doubt you'd think her a nasty brat that I should be telling off or even slapping?

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"

This. Smiles is absolutely correct. If anybody expressed criticism of my dd when we're out and about I would sort it out at once, not just carry on and leave her to misbehave. Smacking is wrong as a discipline method, but this mother dropped the ball. There is no point saying you will deal with it later at home, meanwhile leave your dc to annoy the hell out of everybody else!!

See, I never notice other peoples kids playing up, it doesn't seem to happen that often and if I did I would think he must be hot, bored, hungry, tired etc. I feel sympathetic if anything. I remember the nicest woman giving me a smile and saying "don't worry we have ALL been there" when dd was melting down once. I could have hugged her. She did far more to alleviate my stress and anxiety than the hatchet faced misery guts casting judgemental stares my way. I know which kind of on looker I want to be.

Kaw- have you read what actually happened? The mother DID tell her son to pick the bags up, she wasnt just "leaving him to misbehave".

And if I see a child misbehaving I always think along the lines of maybe they're tired, ill, having a grotty 5 mins. I don't assume they're brats.

smiles your post is ridiculous.
A child is hit by a stranger and your view is that the child is not crying because he's been hit.
Bullshit. What an idiotic thing to say.
"following through with a threat" how is that ok?
I have absolutely no respect for anyone who thinks that is not only acceptable but also praise- worthy to threaten and hit a small child.

I could be wrong of course. But the only way to start testing that would be to have someone twice your size to hit you. Would that be ok? I mean, if you'd done something to annoy them I guess it would be reasonable behaviour.

Misbehaved children happen. Sometimes you have no choice but to drag them to a store after a long day when they've used up all their reserves and are at the end of the line.

You don't hit someone else's child. Period.

That store clerk is "lucky" that kid didn't have special needs or a developmental disorder, or it would have been a PR nightmare for the store.

In any case, if someone wanted to criticize my parenting, I'd tell them exactly where they stood. I would have snapped at the clerk just for the threat of hitting my kid. They are looking at a snap shot of what's going on. If there is a problem, I will deal with it in my own way, but I refuse to put on a show for other shoppers to "prove" I'm a good parent. I will do what my parents did and yell at my kids in the car or take them aside where there's not an audience, not in front of everyone.

We have indeed ALL been there with the unruly dc. If everybody around you is sympathetic to your dc having a tantrum, that's fine, no problem.

The issue is parents ignoring unruly behaviour which is annoying other people and they have expressed that they are annoyed, as the Morrisons lady did. She did not suddenly come out of nowhere and smack the boy, she is probably of a generation when smacking was acceptable. She rightly saw a need for discipline, unfortunately her disciplinary method was outdated.

Agree with smiles.

I know it's not the point but the mothers smug face trying not to smile just smacks ( ha ha) of something wrong. She's probably hoping for a big compensation package.

ExcuseTypos, telling dc to do something which they are patently not doing does not count as doing something about it. You hear such parents all the time: 'Sebastian, stop kicking the nice lady', 'Sebastian, stop pulling up the nice flowers' when Sebastian is too tired/engrossed/having fun being naughty to do as he is told.

Telling the boy to pick up bags which he was not picking up is not 'doing something about it'.

Hitting is wrong. Sorry for the Morrison's lady that she got that wrong and lost her job, but I agree with the wider point smiles was making.

Well what do you suggest she started the conversation with when he threw a bag on the floor? I think "pick those bags up please" is doing something about it.

Who knows what she would have said/done next, she didn't get a chance becasue the checkout woman intervened.

Outrageous.
What did he do that deserved him being hit?
Would anyone consider that hitting an adult in similar circumstances is acceptable?
Some Ppl's attitudes towards children are utterly contemptible. So he was acting up, his behaviour was annoying, he wasn't doing as he was told.
The cashier has no defence for hitting that child.
The is no such thing as a "friendly tap" (FFs)
But what's even more worrying is that with the refit of hindsight some people actually think its acceptable to hit tiny little people because they annoying.

refit = benefit.
they = they are.

ExcuseTypos, are you serious about 'start the conversation'??! So that's what all those parents with the out of control dc are trying to do, start the conversation. Meanwhile other people have to put up with it.

I would not 'start conversations' with my dd if she was annoying people around us. I would take immediate action. I have removed her from situations many times, even getting off a bus or train and interrupting our journey if necessary. I did not faff about looking for a suitable conversation opener.

Now she is 6.5 nearly 7 she is beyond the tantrum age but I did this many times when she was younger. I would not let it get to where a member of the public feels the need to step in.

Gosh, I have never knowingly 'parented' my children (the verb to parent makes me shudder) and I don't want anyone else to either. What on earth was the cashier thinking. If anyone dared to assault one of my children, My reaction would be instant and not pretty.

YNBU. O.P. This women should have been charged with assault because that's what it is. Had she hit a fellow adult. I'm certain a sorry would not be enough. if any adult hit my dd or my d.nephew. I'd be baying for blood. Any hitting/discaplining the parents family members do it.
This was a 4 year old child not much more than a baby, really. He was acting up. Big deal. It's what children do. Also Jennifer are your children so perfect.
This women should have been sacked and prosecuted.

This woman's child got hit. In the US people's children get shot - there was that teen playing loud music the other day. Hitting is violence and violence is always wrong. There are many badly behaved children out there and it is wrong for members of the public to respond with violence towards them.

But. There is another side to this. Do not bring up your dc to think it's ok to annoy other people. And this mother learned NOTHING from her experience well, she will if she reads the DF comments

The police aren't taking action because the "slap" has been grossly exaggerated by the publicity shy mother.

There is quite a difference between what actually happened and what the mother has told the dm