Stranger allegedly slaps crying child
 

Stranger allegedly slaps crying child in store - CNN.com

Just as a side note, this walmart is about 5 minutes from my house

I may get branded the worst person in the world lol but the tiniest evilist part of me just says "yay you" to this guy

One of the my biggest pet peeves are parents that do not take their crying child out of the area where everyone is.

I would never have any child slapped in the face, though I dont have a problem with spanking. And if another person so much much as laid pinky on my child they'd be in some serious hurt. But then I was the kind of mother that took Amanda out when she did stuff like that.

I feel really guilty that when I read that article my first thought was "yay you" not, "oh thats horrible"

Is anyone else out there like that would be willing to admit it?

Did you ever knoooooooow, that you're my heeeeeeeeeeeroooooooooo....

Nope Shani, I had a little part of me go YAY as well. Although I can understand it being terrible that a stranger did this. If I were the kid's mom, I'd have taken them out of the area too.

Thats fucked up, no seriously there is a time and place for discipline. There is also a person. I do not condone wanton cruelty to kids and a stranger walking up on a child and slapping them IS wanton cruelty, what kind of message are we sending?

A parent should discipline their child, I have no problem with them slapping them if thats what it takes. A person of authority should discipline their kids, i.e. teachers, nanny's etc etc ... not some dimwit WWII war hero stranger! I'd break his hip if I were there.

I don't want to sound like an internet tough guy, but if I were the child's parent, I would have probably attacked the man who hit my child.

I don't know the circumstances around what caused the child to cry, but I don't see how attacking a child is the appropriate response to that child crying.

My first thought was "This guy needs a fucking metal."

I know I don't want someone touching my kid (when I have one), but mannnnn I wanted to do this before. So many fucking times.

what? Geez, I'd never get anything done at the shops if I had to leave every time one of the boys decided to throw a wobbly.

It's a crying child - get over it.

If you don't want to hear crying children, how about you stay home?

I applaud him for having the balls to actually do it. I really thought I was going to be in the minority on that one as I opened the thread. Sure, He overstepped his bounds and I'm sure slapping a kid is the wrong way to make it stop crying unless you're going for the knockout but man, it's kinda funny.

kids throw wobbly's .. big fucking deal. if you as an adult can't handle a fucking child acting up at 2 years old then sorry that's fucking pathetic.

the cops would be arresting me as well if someone dared slap my child like that.. I'd beat the FUCK out of that person.

I can't understand how people expect a 2 year old to be perfect all the time.. or that a parent should just be so considerate to take that child out of the area every time the child pops a wobbly. I can see doing it sometimes, but if I'm in a hurry, I'm going to get my shit, and get out.. boo fucking hoo if you have to hear a 2 year old tantrum.

That was...not cool. I totally understand where the guy was coming from, and at 61, his generation had a completely different idea about discipline; in many ways, a better idea, considering how undisciplined most children are anymore.

Still, it's someone else's kid, a complete stranger, and that's not gonna fly.

spindles & guccilvr for the win, and I don't even want kids!

He hit her four or five times? He would be suffering from a concussion before he could land the first slap if it was my daughter he tried to discipline. You don't like to hear a little child crying? Sucks to be you. It's annoying, but you should be able to get over it.

What should've happened:

That video was the first thing I thought of, LoganSnake.

I second everyone who mentioned committing violence towards the older gentleman. I also second the sentiment that folks should be able to show some emotional maturity and cope with the occasional screaming kid in a department store.

A crying child should be removed and relocated to a more pleasant area for the child. It is abusive of the parents to force a child to be in a situation that makes them cry and scream. They are obviously miserable and suffering needlessly.

Let me know if I'm wrong here, but, you haven't spent a lot of time around children, have you?

A crying baby in a Wal Mart? Wow, never heard of such a thing.

At my last count, there were about a hundred fucking annoying things that ADULTS do at Wal Marts that outweigh a 2 year old crying. A 61 year old gapped tooth cousin fucker gets his jollies out of hitting a kid, but doesn't seem to have the balls to try that with a grown person.

What the hell is it about unhappy children that sets people off? You think it's so easy to turn off the crying?

I was astounded when I read the story. I think it was horrible and the guy probably likes children quiet, bound and gagged in his basement for later use.

Thank you for being the voice of reason. Now I understand that it is annoying when someones kid is screaming and crying in a public place, but that gives NO ONE the right to touch someones kid. Now I have three girls, one is five but the other two are under the age of 2 and I have never had an issue with them throwing a fit in a store. One time my daughter took a piece of candy at the check out stand. I walked her right back in the store to hand it to the cashier and apologize. It embarrassed her, but it made her realize that what she did was wrong and I have not had another problem with her since.

But back to the subject if anyone slapped my child I would kick there ass. What kind of person just comes up and hits someones kid. I have not personally had a problem with my kids in a store but I know if a child does not feel good and cant tell you why they just cry and cry. Its not always a lack of parenting that is the problem. Some parents are single and have no choice but to shop with there kids.

---------- Post added at 10:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 PM ----------

thanks for sharing that video LoganSnake, that is exactly how I would react if someone hit or kicked my kid.

I don't think that leaving the store when your kid blubbs is essential, but people who do nothing at all when they have a crying child piss me off.

As for people who have no control of their kids, I always remember a flatmate of mine who said "why do some people only take their kids to the shops in order to scream at them?".

its plain and simple asault - all the more cowardly because the victim was utterly unable to defend themselves. This guy should be looking at 5 years minimum staring at a concrete wall fo 23 hours a day - hopefully he'll find enough peace and quiet to satisfy himself under those conditions.

Crying kids aren't fun, and parents who do nothing about it are annoying as hell... but I have issues with slapping kids in the face. A woman at one of my tables did that the other night, and I had to walk away before I slapped HER.



...that's really all I have to say.

Nope, I'd have probably come close to killing ANYONE who laid a finger on my kids.

And if I'd seen this happen, even if it wasn't my kid, I'd probably have done the same.

This guy is 100% asshole and criminal.

Put me in the overly violent response camp. I currently have a "thing" going with a neighbor who screamed at my toddler when he got fingerprints on the outside of the guy's front window. I'll spare everyone the details, but let's just say we're not on speaking terms.

When we are out and someone misbehaves, I try to be zen about it. I don't reward bad behavior with a response. I tell them that they aren't allowed to behave like that and stay calm. That's new for the younger one, by the way. There are various punishments at home that while be dealt out later.

Now, to all of you that think this is at all acceptable; I find your opinions moronic, selfish and tragic. To those of you who are parents - shame on you. Its somehow even approaching ok for a stranger to slap a toddler?! I'm no "precious snowflake" guy, but ANYONE (parent or not) slapping a toddler in the face is unacceptable. If you somehow seriously think it is, you're less than human .

Evolution. We've evolved as a species to have the distress call of our young be particularly attention-grabbing. Pretty damn adaptive, if you put us a thousand years ago in the woods. Not so hot at Wal-Mart in 2009.

If some stranger tried to do that to my kid I'd probably make a good attempt at kicking their ass. There is no excuse for this. I am also against slapping or smacking.

That being said, I also think that parents whose kids are having a fit should do something about it, if they can. But then, some kids just elude any kind of reasoning in those situations. It's life. I think kids who are brought up right for the most part will not be doing this kind of thing that frequently.

For the record (even though I said I'd have hurt the man for touching my child) I feel I need to clarify. Crying doesnt bother me, babies are going to cry, toddlers are going to cry. My peeve is with parents that have a child throwing and out and out temper trantrum in stores, restaurants, movie theaters etc. I'm a mother, I understand that even the best of children are occasionally have fits like that, I also know I would never in a million years walk around ignoring it to the point that its irritating to other people. My errands are never to important to teach a child that behavior like that in public is NOT a good thing and not tolerated, so I have zero problem removing the child to a more private place (store bathroom, outside etc) until the issue is resolved.

please tell me this was sarcasm..

please.

should have been the parent slapping the kid, or the walmart greeter............

I agree with Shani that a parent should not allow their child to go on and on in a public space without attempting to quiet them. It is very frustrating and annoying to hear a child screaming or crying uncontrollably while you look over and see the parent continuing to shop and doing NOTHING about it. It's both irresponsible parenting and rude. Young children (and sometimes not so young) sometimes cry or throw temper tantrums to relieve stress and it's ok to tolerate it - to a point. When it goes on past a reasonable amount of time and the parent is doing nothing to teach the child that it is inappropriate behavior - well, I don't blame anyone for being judgmental about it. It's never too early to encourage an awareness of respectful public behavior.

That said, I'm not of the mind that slapping anyone, particularly a child, particularly a toddler, is ever an appropriate response in any situation. If anything, it betrays a lack of discipline and self-control rivalled, perhaps, only by the ravings of an out-of-control child in a Walmart.

It's understandable for a 2-year-old to have a tantrum--it's absolutely developmentally normal. A toddler's capacity for language hasn't yet caught up with their cognitive ability, and they often get overloaded with trying to express themselves.

The response should NEVER be a slap in the face, by ANYONE. If a stranger tried to touch a child I cared for--whether it was my own or a child I was nannying--he would be hurtin' for certain. It is unacceptable to physically harm a child. Period.

I have a lot of experience with dealing with tantrums, as the job I work in seems to specialize in care for 2-year-olds. The best tactic is to let them be. The tantrum will pass, and later, you can talk with them about how when they're frustrated, they need to try and use their words. However, this obviously does not work in public. The best tactic then is to make it clear to the 2-year-old that if they have a tantrum, that will be the end of the activity--whatever it is, you will stop, and you will leave.

edit: OK...I mixed up what video I watched. Now I see that I didn't see what happened here.
why is the title "...allegedly slaps..."? Since I'm seeing it I don't know what's "alleged" about it...it happened and I don't need a judge or jury to agree that the stranger slapped the kid.

Otherwise, my first thought was that any adult that would do that has to be having a mental problem. It was totally out of control, totally inappropriate behavior by any standard.

Due to my own limited patience for insanity that violates my space, I might have hurt that guy really bad if he did that to my kid. Reminds me of an incident many years ago in a local park. I was talking a leisurely walk with my little daughter on a path along the creek, she was maybe 6 yrs old, a jogger came up from behind us and ran right into her and then acted like she was "in his way"...I knocked the guy down and could barely contain myself from hurting him much worse.

Here's a thought experiment: Let's swap the crying toddler for a whining puppy. Does that change how you might act?

The man crossed the line. Why is escalation always the answer?

It annoys me when old people drive like crap. So by Mr. Stephens logic, it would be perfectly acceptable for me to apply a shotgun blast to his face when he drives for miles with his blinker on.

I fully understand why people get annoyed at parents and children who are whining. I get it. In fact, I get annoyed at other people's kids because of the whining.. however, I'm not going to tell them how to parent or even come close to smacking their child.

There's a difference in letting the whining go on for a while and not doing anything about it, and someone just grabbing what they need and removing the child. I think that it's worse on a child in the long run if you continually move them out of the area because they are whining. That does nothing but teach them that if they don't like something, they can run away and go somewhere better. Yes I understand the whole "take them out to show it won't be tolerated" but in most cases, especially with children 3 and under, ignoring them does a better job of getting the point across. It's like a dog, you give it attention when it's doing something wrong and it reinforces the behavior, ignore it, and he'll get the idea that he shouldn't do it. Same goes, in a way, for children. Ignore their tantrums and deal with it appropriately when you get home or to the car and they'll get the point.

There is no excuse for what this guy did (if he did it). None. Nada. Zip. I don't care about his generation and all that, a child is still a child. You don't fuck with other people's kids.. and yeah.. I said it before.. I'll say it many times again.. he, or anyone else, better count their blessings that it wasn't my child. I'd gladly take a charge for protecting my kids.

Man Jailed for Hitting Stranger's Child 090209 | myfoxatlanta.com

I wanna know what made him chuckle and say 'thank you.'

Yes, it's unfortunate what he did to the 2-year-old. If anything, I'd lash out at the parents instead of the child. From from a comedic aspect though, the story made me smile. It's something you'd see on 'Family Guy' or what not.

And for the record, I was raised with my Father smacking me across the face as a form of discipline. meh.

It's acceptable by his logic (and anyone who agrees with him) to take a swipe at anyone who annoys you. Old people, babies, whoever - just whack 'em when you get annoyed.

This guy is scum. Hopefully, when he's in prision and he annoys someone, he'll get a good kicking.

thats the crux of the matter, well put.

Good.

There is no adrenalin dump like the one you get when your child is hurt, and if that hurt had an intentional sentient cause, I don't want to think about what I would do to them before I calmed down.


To everyone defending, condoning (or congratulating) this action (Shani, Bear cub, Sue, LordEden, Reese), you have all gone down a notch in my book.

This isn't a crying baby in a theater at a rated-R movie, or a bratty kid unsupervised in a jewelry shop. It's a two year old, being supervised by her parent, at fucking wal-mart while her mom grocery shops and buys socks and detergent. This is not an optional action, or one with a reasonable alternative or solution other than 'continue to purchase items necessary to live'

Shani, Chris Rock sent me an e-mail and said he wanted me to post his reply to this thread for him.

"I'm not saying he should have killed her, but I understand."

I'll go along with that.

Serves 'em right if you ask me. He should've slapped the mother afterward.

lol

I mean, *evil scowl.*

I thought Hulk Hogan said that?

Manic, Are you serious? or are you joking here?

Hulk was paraphrasing a bit from Chris' act about OJ Simpson.

I get both sides of this. On the one hand, my wife and I literally ask for a new table at a restaurant if a child sits next to us and we don't have our food yet. They don't have to be crying, we just bail off to somewhere else and avoid irritation altogether.

On the other hand, slapping a child like that is out of control. If he asked the lady to calm her heathen, then left the area when she ignored him as well (and she would have) then the situation would have been defused. Honestly, being raised as I was, if a random man did that and I was a witness, I would been tempted to beat him silly. I would not have hesitated to restrain him, either way. You just don't do that. We don't have children, but if we did and that happened to my wife and child, I would hunt him down at night and beat him. I've cornered people for less.

Being beaten wildly as a child, anger, no... rage, comes from deep within when I see those things. Even thinking of the situation puts me in fight mode. I'm there right now.

The idiot is lucky he didn't do that out here in TX. He'd have found himself with new orifice, .40 caliber sized.

Houston here, and yes, that would be an acceptable measure :)

This. Exactly this. The perfect response. :thumbsup:

He should of slapped the mother.

yeah he should have slapped the mother, because it's everyone else's job to tell people how to parent other children.

:rolleyes:

Hi, I'm irritated that your child makes noise, so I'm going to cause you, as a woman, bodily harm.

Yep, makes sense. I've seen better judgment at the local bar.

This guy has some anger issues.
He should stop shopping in a store that caters to financially-strapped young families like wal-mart if he doesn't want to hear a screaming child.

Right. Because we should all have to adjust our lives to accommodate the whims of every child.

That's certainly a great lesson to be teaching a kid. :rolleyes:

Not that I condone the slapping of a stranger's child, but I probably would have said something to the parent if it was that annoying.

Don't be upset if the parent tells you to go to hell.

After all, two wrongs make a right.

Actually, we should all adjust our lives based on everything around us all the time.

A crying child is rarely doing so on a whim. Children are not adults and should not be expected to behave like an adult. I think it's really amazing that people expect a young child (especially a two-year-old) to learn behavior in one lesson. It takes months or years to learn that throwing a tantrum is not acceptable. Sometimes, it's never learned ... I've seen adults behaving as bad, if not worse, in public than my child ever did--and she threw some fits, let me tell you.

Let me pose the scenario this way:

The child was frustrated--either because it didn't get something it wanted; it was hungry; or it was uncomfortable. The child vented its frustration by crying/throwing a fit. A rather annoying but ultimately benign action.

The old guy was also frustrated--we are led by the article to believe he was frustrated by the crying child. The old guy vented his frustration by striking another human being; a defenseless human being at that.

Which is more acceptable?

I'll reiterate. Crying is one thing, a tantrum is one thing. Allowing your child to cry or throw a fit for more than 10 minutes without removing them from the situation - forgive me, but there is no excuse for that. Ignoring them is not tending to them. And I am the mother of three children.

Ring, I must confess to being much more interested in the fact that a case as blatantly open and shut as this can garner two pages worth of discussion than I am in the matter actually being discussed.

There really is but one sensible conclusion that any sensible person would arrive to. I don't get these threads.

Carry on.

I was being a little tongue in cheek with my first reply. If I was in a cafe/restaurant/movie theatre and my kid was causing a ruckus, out we'd go and it would be dealt with away from others. In a shopping centre, I would finish what I was doing with every effort to calm the child. But as has been pointed out already, sometimes (toddlers especially) can be inconsolable. Are you suggesting I should drop everything and leave just for other shoppers piece of mind? Because that isn't going to happen.

1. I secretly want to slap other peoples kids in stores all of the time......

2. I WOULD have attacked the old geezer had he put his hands on my child...

3. Parents need to remember you run your kids - they don't run you! Which is in reference to the comment that parents should leave a store when their child acts up.....NO that is giving in and allowing your child to be the boss. I am certain a child that is raised this way is the same one that slaps their parents around when they are teen-agers.......How about taking your child into the bathroom and laying down the law in private?

4. Even worse to me is the parents that are screaming and cussing at their misbehaving children as if they have no common sense while walking through the store. Have some class.

5. Irrelevant but sort of on point - why would you ever slap a toddler across the face? How disgusting and disrespectful can a human being get. It's one thing to slap a hand or swat an ass but slapping a child across the face? WOW

I would have left the store as fast as my two little feet could carry me.

Crying &/or screaming kids are so damn annoying to me, I can't stand them or their parents.

It amazes me how many parents just shrug and act like it's no big deal!
The parents I've seen over the last 5-10 years are so spineless it's become pathetic.

Makes me more glad than ever that I never had kids - by choice. See, some of us have made good decisions regarding our mortality. (Or better yet, aren't defined by the kids every flippin' minute of every day.) I get So tired of covering for people at work who have to leave work early because little Johnny got in trouble at school, yet AGAIN.

Okay thanks, the vent is over. Whew!

That sounds dismissive and rather arrogant.

I'd hoped you would stick around to discuss this.
The case may seem open and shut, but look at the responses.

I've seen more violence in this thread than was contained in the OP.

I've heard responses from those who were violently slapped as children
themselves. Perhaps we could discuss how these early childhood
experiences, might shape or color our opinions on this matter?

I've heard some talk about the major adrenaline rush
that they would experience if their children were threatened,
even though they basically espouse a mostly pacifistic mindset.

Violence begets violence.

Surely there can be more to this discussion than what you claim.

What is your sensible conclusion?

If it had been my child, (after she was slapped)
I would of swooped her up in my arms, and ran. I would of run
screaming, "Fear, fire, foes, rape, help help help.", at the top of my lungs.

:thumbsup:

I agree with Gucci. Ignoring problems TOTALLY make them just go away.(<--sarcasm) If you want to use a dog as analogy, Try punishing a dog for bad behavior he committed an hour earlier. The dog has no idea what you're talking about. It's the same with small children. If you want to teach a child that bad behavior is met with appropriate consequences, then it needs to be immediate.

I think we're all in agreement that his behavior was criminal. I don't think there's a man here that wouldn't have knocked his ass out had we witnessed it first hand.

So what you're saying Reese, is that taking a 2 year old child who is popping a wobbly to another area is teaching them that it's not ok to do that? Ok so you take said child to another area, and they keep bitching. Then what? You go to another spot? Then another? When does it end?

I'm not saying that a child shouldn't be removed in some circumstances and that the act of removing them doesn't work or have merit, and I used a poor analogy, however, when you don't give the act attention, it will usually calm down in less than 5 minutes. So people had to hear a toddler cry for 5 minutes. So fucking what. I fail to see how that 5 minutes has any significant impact on anyone's life.

Apparently, some people never grow up if a whiny kid bothers them SO much that they have to leave a store. :rolleyes: A child doesn't have the mental capacity that an adult has. They don't have the reasoning. An adult has the ability to admit that a child may not fully understand why it is throwing a tantrum and just ignores it. It's not spineless at all to leave a store because you heard a child crying. No, not one bit. :rolleyes:

Some of us have made great choices in our mortality by having children. You don't like children..great.. good for you. Others may have chose to have children and that doesn't mean anyone is defined by them. We're still ourselves, but again, it's a child and cannot function as an adult. Kids will be kids.. they live and learn just as adults do, but at a different capacity and with a different viewpoint on the world. I'm sooo sick of covering people's asses at work because they are stressed or "don't feel good" or they just slack in general. Whew! Adults are just so awesome!

So yeah, while I may try to be considerate of other people when it comes to my toddler popping a wobbly, I'm not going to shed any tears if you or anyone else can't come up with the mental capacity to ignore it for 5 minutes.

I'll take a moment to interject an example of taking charge of this situation:
Take your child to the car, strap them into their car seat and sit there with them until they decide to calm down. You are not teaching them that their behavior is going to get them a desired change of scenery. By ignoring their behavior and continuing with your shopping you are, in effect, telling them that it is ok with you. It's a simple technique and it works. Even toddlers can understand such a basic concept after two or three examples.

Can I just say that the phrase "popping a wobbly" is new to me, and had I heard it without proper context I would have assumed it had an entirely different meaning?

Also, I think people who are passively hostile towards children are ridiculous. Sure, kids can be annoying. Everyone can be annoying. Conspicuous self absorption (as evidenced by loud crying in public places) is a characteristic that isn't unique to children. In fact, I would wager that most of the folks who can't stand kids are secretly envious of them because of how much slack kids typically get when it comes to conspicuous expressions of self absorption. This is especially evident in how closely folks who complain about whiny kids resemble whiny kids themselves.

Grow up. Kids are dumb because they don't know how not to be. What's your excuse?

and I'll interject that it's all relative to the child. For instance, my two kids are completely different. When my son was two, we were eating and he decided to pop the wobbly. After nothing would console him after about 2 minutes, (I try to be considerate to people eating) my wife took him to the car. He was even more infuriated and continued to cry for another 20-25 minutes. He didn't stop until we got home. I found that the best way to deal with him is to take him to the side, and get down to his level and find out what's wrong. Sometimes it may take a few minutes of talking for him to calm down but it works.

My daughter however, if she pops a wobbly in a store or anywhere else, she's usually looking for attention. She LOVES attention.. doesn't matter what kind..she just loves it. In her case, she'll stop in 5 minutes or less if I ignore her and don't pay attention to her tantrum and continue about my business. Now she's realizing that she won't get attention for acting up while we're out and she doesn't do it as often. Although, whoever coined the phrase terrible two.. must have foreseen my daughter :lol:

I really don't think there is any hard or fast rule on this.. it's just dependent on the type of archetype the child has and figuring out the best way to handle each child, because they are all different :)



and.. a big fucking AMEN to filtherton

well, like I said, if the episode lasts 5-10 minutes and it's done with, then it's not really relevant to the issue that I'm talking about. I'm just speaking from the viewpoint of a shopper who has witnessed parents too many times wander around a store or sit in a restaurant with a child behaving like a lunatic while they either ignore or throw a 'stop that' at the child every five minutes or so. Granted, with all the tit-for-tat being exchanged on this thread regarding the issue of 'loud children' and whether people should be expected to tolerate them, at some point you have to admit that there are parents who are, in effect neglecting both their children and their parental responsibilities during these episodes. I mean...come on.

Actually, I'd kind of expect it.
Just like I expect the jerk down the street to get defensive when everyone complains about his dog keeping the whole neighborhood awake all night.

Some people's kids and pets can just do no wrong. I get it. ;)

You are Awesome! Ive been reading this thread since it started and I have to say that your post is by far the best.

Now before I had children I used to look at the parents of crying children thinking " what is wrong with those kids, why don't the parents teach them not to do that". But now I understand. I have never dealt with my kids freaking out in a store, but I usually go shopping after my husband comes home so I can go alone. There was a time when Abby had an ear infection and right after her doctors appointment I had to go to the store to get her meds. I went in to pick them up and she was balling. An old lady in line at the pharmacy told me that I need to do something about my daughter. What the hell! My daughter was in pain and only one. What do people expect from parents? Its not always easy to get your kids to stop crying, especially when they are too young to understand that there crying is bothering people.:rolleyes:

This is right.

The guy who did the slapping should have taken his frustrations out on the parent. Would asking her to take the kid out the store been too much to ask? Regardless, he removed *any* sympathy from me as soon as he struck the kid.

I don't know what I would have done in that situation but instinctively I would have protected my child... and that wouldn't have been pretty.

I don't know how many times I've wanted to do that.

Should of slapped the sh.it out of the mother also knowing he was going to get slapped with a felon from the coppers. I blame the irresponsible mother in this case and in any other case. Parent's who don't know how to parent should stick the kid back in the wife's/girlfriends pussy. You both do not deserve to raise kids and should surrender the kid to child services.

and just how should one parent?

put muzzles on their children?

:rolleyes:

A) If my kid threw a temper tantrum in Walmart, I'd leave and try to settle them down outside.

B) If anyone struck my kid in a Walmart, they'd be wearing a golf club, baseball bat, or whatever was convenient.

no, you heard him, gucci...you stuff them back up the wife/girlfriend's pussy... :paranoid:

I hope there's a manual...

Sounds painful.

sounds rather ..messy also.

the WONDERS of science!

*tsk tsk*

Such a violent people we are.

Why don't we just lay on the kid, the mother, the old stranger, and the Walmart greeter and be done with it?

That'd be epic.

We dropped the grandparents off at the airport today and on the way home, our 2 year old daughter threw a screaming fit because she wanted to go in and watch planes.

We tried everything we could think of to get her to stop but failed and gave up and continued to drive while ignoring her. Then our 4 year old son became so frustrated that he started hitting her.

So he's a hero then I guess. Or maybe we're just horrible parents.

Internet parenting is teh awesome!

Nyquil ftw.

:p

Uh, for all these posts chastising the mom for ignoring her little girl, where in the article does it say that? It's just assumed that she's a bad parent because a 61 year old, prone to child abuse, found the scenario unbearable?

Where did it say he was prone to child abuse?

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/wp-co...2009/09/64.jpg

figured this was appropriate.

for my part, I haven't chastised the mom for anything. my comments about ignoring emotional outbursts in public have all been 'in general,' so to speak. I didn't even read the article.

He start hitting a child not his own. That makes him prone to child abuse.

If you're asking if he's done it before, that's another question - which will likely come out in court.

Righto. We have evidence he doesn't mind hitting kids, there's no evidence this woman was ignoring her daughter.

What is or isn't appropriate in public has certainly changed these last few years. People consistently astound me.
And while something like this has certainly happened before. And while (based off of things my parents told me, and off of Mad Men) scolding children other than your own was the norm sometime around 1960s, it sure isn't the norm now.

I've worked part-time in retail for a few years now. I've also worked as a young children skating instructor. You learn to drown out the screams based on your work. When I was a coach, the objective was to get the kid to stop asap.
While working in retail, the objective is to get the woman/parent/guardian with the child out of the store asap.

Hollering kids in a store gets irritating fast. And seeing as we sell crystal and glass,well, we'd rather not see it shatter before its sold. :/

And there's no evidence this dude ever hit a child before.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3788/kettlepot.gif

This guy should have had his head handed to him the minute he made the "shut her up for you" comment.

Had that been -my- daughter (which I don't yet have), they'd have been picking pieces of this asshole's skull out of the Ore-Ida display. 155gr .40S&W>Abusive, assaulting asshole.

Given that head trauma can cause death, and given that the mother had no idea that he -wasn't- about to mortally injure the child if he hadn't done so already, (reasonable person perceives risk of imminent death or severe bodily harm) or cause a severe closed-head injury, that woulda been a "clean shoot."

The gene pool needs some chlorine, and asshats like this should be the second to go, directly behind pederasts.

Oh, hey, and that would be a great way to introduce a toddler to the virtues of effective headshots.

Two birds, one stone.

...or bullet, rather.

Mind you, I'm out of touch with American children's television. Maybe they already cover this these days on Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer.

At least Walmart will sell the right product for getting bloodstains out of OshKosh B'Gosh overalls.

Nobody who casually assaults children has any reason to continue breathing my air, or my hypothetical child's. Hopefully such an incident would instruct the child, later in life, on taking care of their own and how to respond to unprovoked Violations of their Sovereign Person.

Why the arbitrary capitalization of "Violations of their Sovereign Person"? Are you living in the Romantic Era?

Anyone who casually assaults children deserves to be held accountable to the law.

I would assume the best lesson for children would be conflict resolution; common courtesy; understanding the law; basic self-defense, perhaps; or how to make a citizen's arrest.

It's difficult to get the idea of a bullet in the brain across to children who get conflicting messages from pretty much every other area in life besides adult entertainment and local news.

A stranger "disciplining" a child isn't disciplining, it mine as well be attacking. The kid doesn't see it the way adults do. When I was a kid, and I was a tough red necked kid mind you, I had been hit before, but my baseball coach hit me over the head with my a glove for messing up some play. It didn't really hurt but I broke down into tears.

If I was at a store and had a kid as soon as he said "If you don't shut the baby up, I will shut her up for you." I would have jumped him. Actually I probably would have turned my kid around, broken his knee and walked out the store.

Agreed, the Law of Natural Selection.

Such as decisively putting a stop to conflicts which they did not begin, but which were rather initiated upon them.

Agreed.

Agreed again; "This is an arm-bar, this is a torque-lock, this is Pepper Spray, and this is a proper sight picture."

Which not every State recognizes, and damned few places outside of the US.

Really? I learned it at 4yrs old, when my Mom shot a squirrel and made me hold it while it died. Believe me, I got it. Nothing says "permanent" like feeling something alive and furry and warm go cold and stiff.

If their parents aren't doing their job/s, I agree. However, any child of mine would have been raise in an environment that was 103% clear on the following issues:

1: They own their body. Nobody else does. Ergo, nobody else has the right to so much as touch them without their permission; the only possible exceptions being medical personnel with the consent of their (the kid's) parents.

2: Anyone who -does- touch them without their permission or against their expressed wishes is violating their Rights; not only the Right of ownership over their own property (their bodies), but also their right to associate or disassociate as they like.

3: Any violation of their Rights, especially on an interpersonal level, may be repelled by whatever means, using whatever force, is necessary.

So, this man slapping a child is beyond the pale, but reacting to it violently is not? This is what I find amazing.
How can these ideas coalesce without making you feel like a total moron?

Ok...let me explain it to you. If someone does violence upon you or those you are charged to protect you respond in kind to make sure it doesn't continue to happen, happen again, or happen to someone else. This is called being a responsible adult, i.e. not a doormat. It's what us grown-ups do to protect lil ones like you. Its something you'll better be able to appreciate when you grow up. :thumbsup: