I just got home from grocery shopping. While I was at the store, I saw a mom shopping with two little boys. One of the boys was singing something to himself and kind of dancing around to the music in his head. It was totally adorable.
All of a sudden, his mom yelled, "Stop singing!"
The boy startled and froze with his hands at his sides.
His mother said, "You're flitting around like a girl," and she kind of flapped her hands in the air and made an ugly face, mocking the little boy's dancing. "You're not a girl, so quit acting like one!"
His older brother laughed at him, and the boy bit his bottom lip and tried to act tough. I felt like my heart was ripped out of my body.
It's different, in my world. All the people I spend time with get that there's no such thing as "acting like a girl." They understand that there is no appropriate situation in which you should yell at a child for singing. Sometimes, when I'm out by myself, surrounded by people I don't know, I feel totally lost. I feel like I live in a little pod of good people and smart people and that 95% of the people in this world are pieces of shit.
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Gross. Just gross! I can't imagine saying something so hurtful to Eliot, much less in front of other people. Heartbreaking!
ReplyDeleteSadly, she was probably raised by someone as bad or worse and the cycle just continues... kudos to parents like you who chose to do so much better by your own children. I just cannot imagine squashing a sweet little spirit like that. Makes me so sad...
ReplyDeleteThat is horrible, I would've been hard-pressed to keep my mouth shut. If only people could understand the damage they do. Just horrible!
ReplyDeleteWow. Just wow! I'm thrilled when my preschooler is singing and dancing around because that means he's happy and not having an epic meltdown in the middle of a store. What a jerk!
ReplyDeleteExcuse my language but what a BITCH.
ReplyDeleteugh, ugh, ugh. That just makes me sad. I think it makes me even more sad now that I have a little one. Today we had a large group of old college friends over (6 guys who just got done climbing a mountain) and one of the questions they asked was "Does she dance?" They pulled out their cell phones to make music for her. Why can't everyone love our little ones' joy?
ReplyDeleteThere will always be bad parents, it is true, and this woman, refuse to call her a mom, did more harm today than she will ever realize.
ReplyDeleteI have intervened at times, reminding parents that are scolding a three year old ...that their little kid is just acting their age. Stops them in their tracks.
That made my heart cry. :(
ReplyDeletei hate that!!!! i love what you said - there's no such thing as "acting like a girl," at least not in a pejorative (read: negative connotation) way. so WHAT?! how many men are rock stars in rock bands or folk bands who have melted the hearts of many by singing? she might have just ruined his romantic future. so, now we hope that he'll come into contact with somebody in his sweet little life that tells him to keep on singing til he can't sing no more. i feel that way too....that 95% of the world is shit. it kills me sometimes. especially when i think about having more babies.
ReplyDeleteugh.
:(
you have got to be kidding me. when my son is born i want to paint his nails pink just to piss off that mom. way to go mom!!! way to stifle you child's creativity.
ReplyDeleteIt kills me to know that their are parents out there who insist on stifling their children's spirits. Ugh. Your kids don't belong to you. You don't get to decide who they are. You are merely their steward through life.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. At least 95% are pieces of shit, if not more.
ReplyDeleteI probably would have gotten myself into trouble (done it before!) and explained not to her but to the boy that his mother had psychological problems. That would have gone over well, NOT! But maybe he could have remembered those words...
This world is too cruel.
There's just all kinds of evil in this world. Just in different forms. So take a look at your gorgeous kids and know you're raising people who might be able to help others see and grow out of what they were raised with. Yay!
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