My dd2 was called a BRAT today @Walmart:(

[Mouse House Mama]

What could anyone possibly NEED at Walmart that the parent couldn't leave?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

The child was not crying or having a meltdown. She was SCREECHING which the OP admits was annoying. When the so-called witch first approached her and said to control her child, maybe she should have apologized but instead she shot back at the woman. Sounds like the OP was not doing anything to quiet the child.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner here!

I doubt the lady would have approached th OP if she was actually trying to do something about it.

 

[luvmy3]

A poster said earleir that a little consideration from both parties would have gone a long way to fix the situation. To me that sounds about right, but I guess some people think kids are the end all and that every one around them should just suck it up and deal with it. I cut slack to parents that at least try, but not parents that think their little snowflake should be allowed to do whatever he/she wants at the expense of others. YMMV

Do we know that the OP didn't try to get her 2 year old to stop? I admit I haven't read every post. Regardless, unless the woman in the store followed the OP around the store the entire time she was there, she wouldn't have known either and was in the wrong for saying anything to her.

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

What could anyone possibly NEED at Walmart that the parent couldn't leave?

birth control??

 

[Magic Mom]

Do we know that the OP didn't try to get her 2 year old to stop? I admit I haven't read every post. Regardless, unless the woman in the store followed the OP around the store the entire time she was there, she wouldn't have known either and was in the wrong for saying anything to her.

She didn't mention it in her OP, and that seems like a detail like that would have added to the sympathy factor.

 

[Mermaid02]

I didn't read the whole thread.

When I hear a screaming/irritating child while out I usually say, "I thought I left him home........" and only to myself. I would NEVER confront someone like the OP was confronted. Sorry- Walmart isn't a spa- it's retail hell and one would expect crying, hungry tired kids to be there.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

birth control??

With that screeching though I would think that joining a convent would come to mind.

 

[EMom]

If any of my children have tantrums, loud, unruly or inappropriate behavior that I cannot get them to stop in a public place, they and I will leave that place until they have calmed down. This is much for their benefit as everyone else's. This includes restaurants, Wal-mart, the grocery store, and yes, Disney World. I have a two year old, and those rules apply to him as well!

I don't see DD as a perfect little snowflake. I did sometimes see that she was cranky, overtired, teething and beyond fussy, etc. I knew that if I hauled her out shopping, it was a recipe for disaster. I was setting her up for failure. Why would I do that to her? If the handwriting was on the wall, I read it.

Yes, I do ask myself, "Would I want to put up with this behavior from someone else's kid?" and if I wouldn't, then I don't let mine do it. A few years back, we went to WDW with another family, heaven help us. They had never taught their child the meaning of the word "no." We had reservations together at many of the nicer restaurants. I have never before been in the position of being at the table where people are looking and saying, "Someone needs to get that kid under control." I did not like the feeling. My own CHILD did not like the feeling. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing. And what's more, I did not blame the other diners one bit. Never again.

The solution would have been to have taken that child out of the restaurant and back to the hotel and blown off dinner. Do that a few times and I think the misbehavior would stop or at least slow down. I'd waltz out of a restaurant with DD in a heartbeat if she acted that way. My parents' phrase to live by was "Do not ever embarrass me in public." We didn't. I wasn't scarred by their standard and DD hasn't been either.

DD is not perfect. But she IS convinced I will take her out of a restaurant, party, church event or anything else if she needs to be removed. That's because I will.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

The point is NOT lost on those of us who believe an overtired, cranky toddler should have never been taken to Walmart in the first place, let alone allowed to remain in the store once the child began to screeeeeeeech just to hear the sound of her own voice.

There is a difference between the oft-heard whimpering, fussy, even somewhat whiny child you are bound to run into at Walmart and the child that was described by the OP. Any child that is screeeeeeeeeching repeatedly just to hear the sound of her own voice has passed the point of "rather annoying, but bearable" and zoomed right into the "Dear lord, make it stop before I start screaming myself" category. Screeching is not just annoying. As some mentioned, it is downright PAINFUL to many, including me. Why should I, a person who is quietly shopping and bothering no one, have to exit a store or run to the frozen food section, to escape the pain caused by the screeeeeeeeeeeeching of a child that CLEARLY needs to be taken home to chill out? Why should every person in the store who is pained or unnerved by the screeching have to leave the area?

No, the burden to depart is on the one doing the screeching.....Or on her mother, I should say. I don't think the toddler was being a brat. The poor behavior was on her mother's part, not the child's. The child had already made it clear, by nonverbal cues, that she was NOT in a state to be taken to Walmart, but the mother ignored the cues.

Yes, very young children have trouble expressing themselves and sometimes cry, yell, scream, whine or throw fits. But not all behavior is created equal. Screeching is not "a little fussy." Screeching is beyond what other shoppers should have to suffer. Screeching child = leave store. If you have a morsel of food in the house, you can come back later. What's that I hear in my head? "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Well, the need of the other shoppers to shop without ear-splitting pain outweighs the need of the toddler to screech and of the OP to get her shopping done.

Look, I like kids. I adore my own. But I'd never inflict a screeching child on anyone else. When DD was teething and prone to crying, etc., we stayed home. A little cabin fever wasn't going to kill us. She felt better at home if she was overtired and I know the other shoppers wouldn't have found an overtired, cranky child so adorable. MY world may revolve around my DD, but I am fully aware that the rest of the world does not share that sentiment.

When general fussiness crosses the line and becomes something others shouldn't have to put up with, you need to take a kid home.

I SO agree. I almost leaped out of my seat to cheer as I read this, but didn't want to scare the dog. LOL

Haven't read the whole thread...always check the last page of a very long thread about child rearing to see how interesting it got. Going to make myself a snack, and head back to page one.

 

[EMom]

birth control??

Glad I didn't have a big old drink of Coke in my mouth or I'd have spewed it all over the computer screen when I read that one.

 

[luvmy3]

She didn't mention it in her OP, and that seems like a detail like that would have added to the sympathy factor.

Maybe, but maybe she didn't think she'd need it, and she probably didn't expect the thread to turn the way it did.

I have no idea what went on in the OP's situation, but I have been in my own. The difference is my child would throw all out tantrums, and while there were times I could just leave, there were times I couldn't. There was no lack of trying to control my ds, and I would have lashed out too at anyone who dare told me to do it. So in the case I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt, YMMV

 

[FireDancer]

Don't know what killed the horse, perhaps it was screeeeeching in a WalMart. What ever it was, the continued beating is futile.

 

[beautybelle]

Had I been in the OP's situation and somebody said something like that to me or my child I guess I would've laughed a little right before she had to pick her butt up off the floor.

I know when my child is misbehaving and I will deal with him or her but unless somebody else wants a very serious altercation then they better leave me the heck alone. I am a very even tempered person and I can handle just about anything EXCEPT somebody saying or doing something to my kids and then I can turn nasty very very quickly and this would've definately been one of those times.

 

[The Orchid]

Okay- so unlike me some people have no problem with a child screeching just to hear themself screech. They think that it is okay to be super noisy at Walmart because after all, it isn't church.

Well, I personally hardly ever go to Walmart for many reasons but the next time I go I am going to walk around while I am shopping going.............
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
CHUGACHUGACHUGACHUGACHUGACHUGACHUGA CHOOOOOOOOOOCHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!

I am so not a brat! I am merely a noisy person!

OMG! I nearly peed myself. That was hilarious! The visual....if you do that, would you please have somebody video tape and put it on YouTube! I could use the laugh! And make sure this person catches the reaction of the people around you!

 

[hentob]

Had I been in the OP's situation and somebody said something like that to me or my child I guess I would've laughed a little right before she had to pick her butt up off the floor.

I know when my child is misbehaving and I will deal with him or her but unless somebody else wants a very serious altercation then they better leave me the heck alone. I am a very even tempered person and I can handle just about anything EXCEPT somebody saying or doing something to my kids and then I can turn nasty very very quickly and this would've definately been one of those times.

See, I take the above to mean you are the type that has NO idea when your child is misbehaving

If you are the type that would hit a person to the ground if they said something you didn’t agree with, rather than walk away, you are not really a great gauge for behavior

 

[brittsmum1998]

See, I take the above to mean you are the type that has NO idea when your child is misbehaving

If you are the type that would hit a person to the ground if they said something you didn’t agree with, rather than walk away, you are not really a great gauge for behavior

I agree, dealing w/ a negative comment from a stranger igniting violence?! Holy Crap.

That would definately be BAD BEHAVIOUR (sp?)

 

[minkydog]

Whoa...let's just take a deep breath...

 

[Magic Mom]

Had I been in the OP's situation and somebody said something like that to me or my child I guess I would've laughed a little right before she had to pick her butt up off the floor.

I know when my child is misbehaving and I will deal with him or her but unless somebody else wants a very serious altercation then they better leave me the heck alone. I am a very even tempered person and I can handle just about anything EXCEPT somebody saying or doing something to my kids and then I can turn nasty very very quickly and this would've definately been one of those times.

Seriously? You would have BEAT someone for asking you to quiet your child?

 

[Stacerita]

I can't believe 17 pages all because some woman called the OP's DD a brat.

 

[ma2jr]