So Master Cooper and I were at a playcentre this morning. I was having a nice time, catching up with some ladies that I met once before (when Cooper was about 3 months old, so I don't remember it at ALL, other than what I've seen in photos).
Until I saw what another kid was up to.
There was a kid who was aged between 3 and 5 (I'm not very good with guessing kids' ages). I'd be guessing closer to 5 than 3. He was hitting or pushing any kid that happened to be in his way, and would attack any kid that went near anything he wanted.
This went on for over an hour. In that time, the mum didn't really do a hell of a lot.
Whenever he'd attack another child, she'd go reprimand him. "Come on darling, don't do that." etc etc etc. Sat him down at the table a couple of times to chill out, but never actually did anything more. At one point he really ATTACKED a boy that went near him, and this other kid shoved him harder, and said, "How DARE you do that to me!". I was cheering for the kid who pushed him, because the Horrible Kid had really hurt him! He was pulling his hair, kicking, punching....
The thing that really got to me was that the mother kept letting him go back in and play without any real consequences! Even if the kid was special-needs and had behavioural issues, with the extent of his anger and behaviour there was NO WAY she should have been more than two feet away from him. He attacked kids non-stop, and was showing really angry violent behaviour.
More than one parent told her she needed to do something about her son, she refused to look at them or speak to them. To me, she seemed depressed; like her son's behaviour had really gotten her down. Or something in her life, anyway.
But after over an hour of watching her son attack other kids at random, I was really really angry. I wanted to go say something to her, but since her kid hadn't attacked MY kid, I really couldn't.
So I went up to the manager, and had a chat to him. He had a chat to the mother, who then stayed with her kid for the next 15 minutes and then left. On the way out, the kid got a lollipop. After all that awful behaviour!!
I really do try hard not to judge other parents, because you never know if the child has behavioural problems, or autism, or something else. But after over an hour of her not properly supervising her child, I was really really pissed off.
So I left. It kinda ruined our trip. It was lovely to catch up with the ladies, but I spent so much time shadowing Cooper to keep him safe that I really didn't get to enjoy it. I didn't feel like I could leave Cooper alone, because if the kid had gone near him or he'd gone near the kid I would have had to RUN to help him.
So... that was my experience today.
What are other people's thoughts?
What would you have done if it was YOUR kid that was the bully
or
What would you have done if it was YOUR kid that had been hurt?
Would you have said something to the mother? Would you have lost your shit at her? Would you have been more understanding than I was?
I'd be interested in feedback on this one, either on Facebook or the blog itself.
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