It's been a while since I wrote a real post. Honestly, Twitter makes it a little harder to blog because you can just say what you need to say without going into tedious detail, which is nice sometimes. But they're two very different media and I need to start learning how to funnel information in those two different ways.
Anyway, I've noticed a trend lately. Maybe I've been seeing it all my life and just now really acknowledging it, but there are a lot of shamelessly terrible parents out there in the world. I went to the Belmont Fair a few weeks ago and had to start counting the number of kids getting yoked up by their mothers -- it was like I was standing in a circle surrounded by kids getting smacked/snuffed/yanked by IRATE women. Then I saw some kid getting cursed the fuck out by his Mom on the street the other day. I mean he was getting it. I was embarrassed for him. She was like, "Shut the fuck up! Just shut your fucking mouth! I don't wanna hear nunna that cryin' BULLshit!" And that was way less funny to me because I don't believe you should ever, ever speak to a child like that. I thought it was just a minority thing but then I was on the train last week and this little white kid gets on with his Mom and starts spazzing out hardcore, screaming like bloody murder about how he wants a seat and he "just can't stand" anymore. He was twisting and writhing and pushing himself into the people around him (myself included) and the woman was just standing there in this monotonous voice like, "Calm down. Everyone wants a seat. Shhh. Stop that. A few more stops. Just relax." I was like, are you kidding me?! THAT was probably the one kid that should have gotten the "Just shut your fucking mouth" treatment.
It's interesting to me that I only see women doing this. I mean I know children are taken care of by their mothers most of the time, so statistically it makes sense, but I wonder if there's something else behind it. Maybe it's the frustration of being a single mother that these women are forcing their children to bear the brunt of? Or that women are becoming more and more aggressive and angry these days (which I have read about). Or that men are less willing to be so public about their anger since it will more likely be viewed as abuse. Is this something you've noticed? Any other theories you can throw out?
4 comments:
I'm convinced kids act on instinct, and they know their moms will only go so far and its a game of wills. I know I'd be damned if any kid, especially mine, tries to consistently embarrass me in public.
Is that what it is? Trying to act tough so that you don't look stupid when your kids acts up and embarrasses you in front of people? Because in many of these cases, I think the parents look even dumber by trying to one-up the kid by yelling and cursing at them.
its not just being a single mom, i think its that a lot of these women were never fully raised themselves/had kids too young, but even at that I think I held a cooler head babysitting at the age of 12. I think its more that they never set firm boundaries/rules with their kids but expect them to follow them and when they don't they get frustrated.
I was actually talking about this with someone else too cause i saw this woman basically beat her child AND her husband/baby daddy at the same time (while changing a diaper, IMPRESSIVE!) and we sort of agreed that the kids are little bad asses because the only way they know how to respond to stuff is aggression/anger because its the only way their treated :( and its a whole big cycle.
I agree with all of you, and I think that your last paragraph just about sums it up. I think American women, particularly ?-American women from relatively macho societies feel voiceless. The oppressed trample the defenseless.
Witnessing those beratings gets under my skin. Really.
Hot post.
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