to judge...

[SoupDragon]

Woman (presume mother)
Girl (9 or 10ish)
Girl being manhandled out of and thn back into coat.
Woman doing fab fishwife impersonation (I do a good one myself), shouts "Don't fucking push me or I'll break your nose!" and "I'm going to take a hammer to that stereo."

Disclaimer: She may have been having a Bad Day.

hell.

I get bad days. Often. I draw the line at threatening to break my children's noses though.

I wish people would treat others as they wish to be treated.

Bloody hell. I judge. I can't imagine how 'bad' a day you'd have to be having to threaten to break your child's nose!

Did the child look shocked? If not, that tells you she is used to it.

Obviously I would not threaten to break my child's nose and am horrified that anyone would say that out loud and in public but.....

sometimes they do just wind you up for no apparant reason.

My 7yr old ds is driving me doolally today which is why I am mumsnetting. He was supposed to do a Y3 project (which we have finally done) but the moaning and whinging and the wailing that it has entailed has nearly sent me over the edge.

He was so cross about doing it that he has been mean to his brother, has attitude and keeps throwing his toys around like a baby.

Am keeping calm but I feel like smacking him on his bottom (which I wont)

Collision is also having a bit of a bad day.

that is awfully sad

Soupy I agree, I think she WAS having a bad day.

for the child

TBH, I was too scared to look at the child! I wasn't sure the woman wouldn't actually hit me rather than just threaten with words.

This was in a busy high street.

I shout at my children inpublic places as much as the next person but I don't swear at them or threaten them with violence.

I have been known to threaten DS with ridiculous sorts of violence, as in "tear your arm off and beat you with the soggy end" but he is only 2 and has no clue what I mean. Nor do I do it with swearing, nor with extreme venom. But then he is only 2 - maybe when he is older and being a complete brat I might find myself being a bit more unpleasant - but I doubt I'd threaten to break his nose even then.

I think YANreallyBU to judge, even if she was having a bad day - it's a hell of a threat.

I have warned Ds that I would put a hammer through his xbox.
I wouldnt. I would just take the leads away, but I was so wound up.
I wouldnt tell him I'd break his nose though.

It may have just been a bad day and the woman didnt punch the girl.

It does frighten me that some people seem to have no self-restraint whatsoever, also no embarrassment gene...

I might have an urge to issue some sort of threat to a dch but would no way be able to say anything along those lines if I thought someone would hear me!

She obviously couldn't give a monkey's if she was heard or not. Sadly, she was probably brought up like this herself, and will pass it on to that 9yo.

I would judge too!!

I never swear at my DS, no matter how wound up I am getting, and I would never threaten anything I know I wouldn't carry out. Surely threatening to break a childs nose would have no effect as the child would know it is an empty threat? (I would bloody hope).

I had a converstaion with a new friend the other day about swearing in front of children (I really really hate it, especially now my DS is at the stage where he copies everything he hears) and she was saying her DH refers to her as a bitch to DD, for example "mummy is being a bitch, ha ha". Now the DD goes around saying bitch. I wonder why . She also said sometimes you can't help but swear in front of children if you are angry. Yes I get angry and frustrated big time, but I can still control what comes out of my mouth. Or am I in the minority with that!

And yes, children can be a pain but I really hate hearing parents speaking to them like they are a piece of shit, they are not, they are your children.

Thats awful! Fine if you're wound up to get a bit irate say something like 'you're really getting on my nerves now!' and frogmarch them off or something.

But to be so specific about how you're going to hurt them?? Awful.

I know someone who speaks like that to her teenagers and I just hate it and feel terrible for them to be spoken to like that. It's something I can never understand, again, as someone said how she isn't even embarrassed to say things like that.

Completely agree with you Coldhands about swearing in reference to children. Have a facebook aquaintance who tags her DD as and regularly refers to her DD 'little bitch' in status updates but as a term of affection in a way some might say little darling!