Kids can get out of hand, but it doesn’t help when the parents do nothing about it. These bystanders shame the parents of out-of-control children. Content has been edited for clarity purposes.
What Happened To His Money?
“When my youngest son was about seven years old, he received a $100 bill from his grandparents for his birthday. The next day, he was home with his teenage brothers and decided to go play with some neighbor kids. He had the $100 bill in his pocket and started showing two friends, who were brothers, his new loot. They demanded he gives them the $100 bill.
When he wouldn’t, they started following him around the neighborhood yelling, ‘Give me the money!’ over and over.
He kept telling them, ‘No’ and ran into our house. The brothers burst into the house after him demanding he gives it to them. He tried calling me, but I was at the dentist’s and couldn’t answer. He eventually gave them the bill and off they went. I’m not sure why he didn’t ask his brothers for help.
A few days later, I suggested he let me hold on to the $100 bill for safekeeping. Obviously, I should have done this immediately after he received it. Then he sheepishly told me he gave it to the two brothers and everything that had happened.
So, we walked over to the brothers’ house and knocked, and their mother opened the door. I told her about how her sons had my son’s $100 bill, and he would like it back. She proceeded to tell me they had already spent the $100 on a family trip and how my son had given them the $100 in exchange for some Pokemon cards.
I was pretty dumbfounded that an eight and nine-year-old could show their mother a $100 bill and she would believe the story that a seven-year-old gave it to them for cards, and that everybody was good with that.
My son did not get his $100 back, but the brothers learned they could harass someone to get something and then lie about it, and their mom would cover for them.”
No Restrictions
“I was at a baby shower where the invitation clearly stated, ‘No children.’ In fact, one of the dads had opened his home and invited all the other dads to come there and bring their kids to have their own party and share childcare duties.
At the time, I was the lone woman in the group who did not have children, albeit I did work in a daycare center. We were all chatting in the living room with the mom-to-be, waiting for the last woman to show up. We finally heard a knock on the door and in she came with her two children.
Someone asked her if she didn’t see the note on the invitation saying this was a child-free zone?
She replied, ‘Oh yes!’
We asked, ‘Why are your children here?’
By the way, one girl was five, and the other was about three and nonverbal.
‘Oh!’ She said very brightly, ‘I thought they’d get a lot out of it.’
I thought, ‘Excuse me? We are not here to be an educational experience for your children.’
We proceeded to attempt to ignore all three of them and get on with what we were there for which was to honor the mom-to-be, eat yummy food, and watch her open presents.
Anyway, we were all having a good time, trying to ignore this woman and her children. Now you must understand one thing here. This woman truly believed all children were free spirits that learned best by immersion in the universe and she’d gotten it into her head that you should never ever restrict them from doing anything they wanted to do. Got that?
Okay. Let’s go on. So we were merrily eating, drinking, and talking when from the corner of our eyes, we saw her toddler reach for the controls of the stereo.
In a split second every single woman in the room said, ‘No!’
The child looked startled and sat back on her diaper whilst her mother (looking quite surprised) said, ‘Oh! You don’t let your children play with the stereo buttons?’
Oh, my aunt Mary! How we talked about her once she left! She was just adamant that her children should not be told no because it stifled their creativity. As it turned out when her eldest was in school, behavior problems cropped up (surprise surprise) and she and the whole family had to begin to learn behavioral operant training.”
“What Your Kid Got Is PDD!”
“I took my 14-month son to a Mcdonald’s, one with one of those playsets which are all tubes and slides. There was one other family there. A boy who was about four years old and his mother. Their meal was on the table, so the kid would take a bite, then run to the play set. The mother would take a bite of her meal but was mostly playing one of those handheld Gameboys.
After a couple of minutes in the play tubes, my son started screaming bloody murder. I didn’t fit in the tubes, but I managed to extricate him. The other mother didn’t even look up.
My son let me know the bad boy had pulled his hair. When I stroked his head, I got a handful of hair, which meant the kid had pulled it right off his head. The other mother didn’t care one bit.
I settled my son down to lunch and then marched over to the other mother.
I said, ‘Your son pulled all this hair out of my boy’s head!’
She looked up, gave a little giggly smile, and shrugged, ‘Sorry, my son has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).’
Then she looked down and resumed her game.
I was outraged.
‘What he’s got is PDD!’ I said. ‘Parental Deficit Disorder. Put down your freaking game and take care of your kid. You should be ashamed. No wonder he’s such a brat!’
Then I opened my hand and dumped all the hair into her and her son’s meal. Twent-eight years later, I can still feel anger at that woman.”
“Right Away, My ‘Mom Radar’ Triggered”
“My husband and I were in a Fry’s Food Store in Scottsdale, Arizona. Scottsdale has very affluent areas, and this store was in the swankiest neighborhood of all. Lots of high-end ladies—we call them ‘The Real Housewives of Scottsdale.’
Now, I don’t want to sound judgmental, because people can be how they want to be, but there is a ‘type’ you will see. A face that is smooth and line-free because of Botox, filler, or surgery—-or all three. Scottsdale is the cosmetic surgery and esthetician capital of the United States. Hair that was very, very blonde and suspiciously long and thick—-I suspect extensions, and so perfectly blown out. Long, perfectly manicured nails and pedicured toes peeping out from her sandals with three-inch heels. A very body-con workout outfit that made me think she’d gotten a little boost in the bust department as well—okay, a lot of boost. Huge diamond wedding set, and lots of glitter on her ears and throat.
Don’t bash me, I am just saying this is a type you will see.
So while one of these RHOS (Real Housewives of Scottsdale) was chatting away on her cell phone, her free hand was pulling a store shopping cart behind her as she minced through the produce department. In the child seat was a little girl about three years old. And this little kid had one of those thin plastic produce bags over her head.
Right away, my ‘mom radar’ triggered.
To my husband, I said, ‘Oh, my God, do you see that?’
So we were kind of paralleling her and the cart’s path in the produce department and when she entered the meat department, the child still had the bag over her head. The mom was still heedlessly chirping away on her cell. At this time, I was now close enough to see that the thin film of the bag was clinging to the little girl’s face, to her nostrils and her little mouth—actually being sucked in and against the little orifices.
I started forward and said loudly to the mom, ‘Excuse me! Excuse me! Your little girl has a bag over her head!’
The mom pulled the cell from her ear, made an impatient face, and told me, ‘I know! I keep telling her not to do that! She just won’t listen!’
I am sure my mouth fell open. Then I didn’t even think, I just opened my mouth and told her, ‘Well, why don’t you get off your freaking phone and act as a parent before your kid dies?!’
I know it was not my business, but really?
I think her eyes popped a bit then. I might’ve also looked a little scary, because the next second, she dropped the phone into her LV (Louis Vuitton) bag, and yanked the bag off her daughter’s head. The child immediately started wailing, which had me wonder, ‘Did she not have enough air to do so before?’
Then the RHOS Mom escaped down the nearest aisle with a cart and a crying child.
An older lady store employee who was sampling something nearby nodded and said, ‘I am glad you did something, I have been watching and worrying about that little girl was going to smother.’
I thought, ‘Uh, thanks for the approbation, ma’am, but why didn’t you say something? Sheesh!’
Anyhow, that little girl could have suffocated while her mom was blah-blah-blah on the phone. Put down the technology, folks, and parent your kids!”
He Paid Over 1K For His Son’s Misbehavior
“When I was manager of a Circuit City Express in a mall, I once saw a five-year-old boy being pushed around in a stroller watching something on a portable DVD player. He didn’t like it and was yelling at his parents about it. Then suddenly, he just threw it over the railing as we were on the second floor.
Without checking to see if it hit anyone or if the DVD player was OK, the father just walked in, grabbed the most expensive one we had along with a DVD, and paid a little over 1K for it.
This was 23 years ago and 1K was worth a lot more then. Even now it’s not cheap. He then unboxed everything and left the trash on the counter and floor and brought his son out the new one. They then turned around and walked in the opposite direction from where the player was tossed.
I saw the family a couple of weeks later and the kid was happily watching a new DVD on a different player that wasn’t bought from my store.”
A Babysitter Tell-All
“I’ve been babysitting since I turned 12, so I’ve dealt with a wide variety of children and parents over the years.
One of my first full-time babysitting jobs was for a lady with two young kids. The daughter was seven or eight and her brother was five or six when I started. That little boy was by far the worst behaved child I’ve ever babysat. He didn’t listen and he lashed out violently the second he didn’t get his way.
One morning I went over, and their mom informed me how she and her hubby were planning on taking the kids tubing at the lake but only if they behaved that day. She told me she told the kids last night that I would be reporting their behavior to her at the end of the day and if they acted up at all then they couldn’t go tubing. Well to the shock of no one, the little boy couldn’t help himself.
He hit his sister several times and bit both her and myself hard enough that he broke the skin and drew blood.
Their mom came home that afternoon and asked, ‘How were they?’
I showed her the bite mark on my arm and explained how the boy had been miserable and violent all day. She called him over and made him say sorry to his sister, which he did with a ton of attitude and through gritted teeth, and then she told him they were still going to the lake but he would just have to stick to swimming and fishing off the boat.
Yup, he went full piranha on me and his sister but they still got to go to the lake.
On another day, I was asked to babysit for a family I’d never worked for before. Again, two small children. This time I was babysitting in the late afternoon, starting just before supper so their parents could go shopping in the city. When I originally agreed to watch them I was told they had an early bedtime and they wouldn’t be gone terribly long.
As the parents got ready to leave, they informed me the kids have been told they could stay up as late as they wanted and eat whatever they wanted. The kids went on to scream bloody murder, chased each other, and did increasingly violent things to each other right up until their parents finally came home, after midnight I add. Needless to say, I didn’t babysit for them again.
But my worst babysitting job was with my cousin. My cousin has two boys. The oldest was going on 17 and the youngest was turning 11. When the oldest was 12, they came out for a two-week visit. During this visit, we really got to see my cousin’s ‘parenting’ in action.
To start with, she treated the boys like they were the same age. There are nearly six years between them and she wouldn’t (still doesn’t) allow the older son to play, watch or do anything that his little brother can’t also do. That means the poor kid wasn’t allowed to watch a movie or tv show rates above G. It also meant they got the same gifts at Christmas and the youngest also got a gift on the oldest birthday so he wouldn’t get upset.
While visiting, the older boy took a liking to my laptop and asked how much I paid for it. When I told him, he went to his mom and asked if he saved up his allowance and the money he made mowing grandpa’s lawn if he could buy one just like I had.
His mother told him the only way he was allowed one was if he saved enough to buy one for his brother too because it would be ‘unfair’ if he had something his brother didn’t.
The younger child has only gotten worse over the years. He’s never disciplined and it shows. The last time I saw them, I spent a night there and was woken up by the youngest boy screaming at the top of his lungs because his brother was still sleeping and he wanted to play Roblox on the Xbox One which belonged to his older brother. He literally pounded on the door and screamed until his brother woke up and then demanded to play his game, all before seven am.
When his brother very calmly told him he was told not to wake others up and that he would not be allowed on the Xbox until the afternoon if at all, the child started screaming right in his face and hitting him. Their mother did nothing. Worse than nothing, she told the older boy to let his brother play on the Xbox not five minutes later and chastised him because ‘You’re not his parent, you don’t discipline him.’
That was the only night I spent there because the younger boy would ask for something and if he didn’t immediately get it, he just screamed and hit until they gave in and gave him exactly what he wanted.
He’s going on 11 and throws tantrums throughout the day like a two-year-old and his parents do absolutely nothing. And yet his older brother who is 17 in a month, gets in trouble constantly for things as little as asking for privacy or saying he doesn’t want his brother in his room. It honestly breaks my heart.”
Future Psychopath
“A mother excusing the behavior of her three-year-old budding psychopath.
My ex-boyfriend had a set of friends who we saw regularly. These friends had a three-year-old son at the time as my son was learning to walk. We went to their upstairs apartment to visit once and I was concerned because the stairway leading up to it was inside and next to their kitchen with no doorway to block it off.
I explained to the mother, ‘I’m afraid my son will fall down the stairs and get hurt or killed. Could we please put up a barrier?’
So we arranged something in front of it. I was watching my son while she and I sat at the kitchen table to talk.
From the next room, I heard my son’s name being called softly in a sing-song voice. My son toddled out of the kitchen after hearing his name and I got up and followed. There was the boy. After hearing what I had said about the danger to my son, he had moved the barrier and was attempting to lure my son to the opening. He gave me a smug, challenging look I found chilling so I told his mother what he had done.
She never even scolded him, but instead said, ‘He’s just a child.’
I thought, ‘Fine, whatever.’ So I kept my eye on the little beggar after that.
Shortly after that incident, they brought him to our house. He went in the other room by himself and I followed. There he had our dog cornered and was attempting to kick it.
I told him, ‘If you kick my dog, he will bite you and I will let him.’
Then he heard his mother calling him.
She had the opportunity to try molding his character and teach him compassion for others, but she glossed it over. That is how you raise a kid that will terrorize the neighborhood. I find the lack of parenting appalling.”
We Have A Biter On Aisle 10
“I was in Safeway and there was this kid all over the place. He was dropping fruits, and kicking other customers, while his mum was just by the grocery cart, talking on her phone. I rolled my eyes and started picking out apples for an apple pie my grandma was making.
Then all of a sudden, I heard, ‘Ow!’
I looked over and this kid had bitten a dude’s leg. He was bleeding and the skin was clearly broken. I didn’t leave the aisle just to see what was going to go down, but I heard the man yell, ‘Why the heck would you do that!’
The mother came over and said, ‘Excuse me, don’t you yell at my son like that!’
He replied, ‘Ma’am get your son checked as soon as you can! I’m sick!’
Everyone in the store went silent, while the man who got bitten waddled over to the cash register with a big grin on his face. As soon as he left the store the mum started sobbing. I don’t know if he was sick or not but it was super savage.”
Little Sister’s Fault
“When I was working at a grocery store, a five-year-old boy began to wail and smack his three-year-old sister. The two of them were sitting in a cart together while their mom checked out, and I watched in horror as the little boy was mistreating his little sister.
The mom pulled the little girl out of the cart and proceeded to berate her for antagonizing her brother.
I work in a counseling center that specializes in domestic violence and complex trauma. We get women in our offices who tell us long, heartbreaking stories of only ever knowing violence in their lives from parents, brothers, and cousins.
I hope someone saves her before her mom signs her death certificate.”
Sunday Entertainment
“Working in a grocery store for 23 years gives you a chance to view all sorts of well, creative behavior.
One Sunday morning, a dad came in with his set of twins, who were about four years old. Sunday mornings were always rather quiet. Both girls, stood in front of my register as dad was checking out. It was at this time his little darlings decided to put on their own little ‘show.’
They both wanted these cupcake sorts of things we had by the registers.
Daddy informed them both, ‘No not now.’
However, their demands became louder accompanied by high-pitched screeching. Highly agitated, the little cuties put more emotion and drama into the scene as their stoned-faced dad and I watched them.
As I mentioned Sunday mornings were rather quiet at six am. Dad looked around a bit—he looked to the left and he looked to the right and I accompanied his searching trying to figure out what we were watching for. Didn’t take long for me to find out.
Dad without saying a word left his place in line and sat on the floor while he proceeded to kick, scream, wail, howl, more kicking pounding with his fist as the whole time his little princesses stared at their father in utter shock. Didn’t stop there either. Dad turned himself over on his stomach and went into a full-blown tantrum. By this time, the girls were staring in horror and went howling out the door.
I could barely contain my laughter.
They screamed, ‘Daddy’s crazy! Daddy’s nuts! Daddy’s bonkers!’
I just thought, ‘Ya daddy’s crazy alright! Daddy’s crazy like a fox crazy.’
Daddy and the girls went home but came in time after time after that. The girls no longer put on any shows. Darn, I was kind of entertained by the whole thing.”