It happened again, a lady yelled at my son the other day, and I yelled back at her, right there in the checkout lane in front of a good 15 people.
My child was getting antsy, the line was taking forever, we needed a cart and the carts were eight, completely unobstructed, feet away from us. I said he could go grab one and push it back to where I was standing. I stood there, I watched him, he did exactly what he was supposed to do. On his way back to me with the cart, this lady isn't watching where she's walking and walks right in front of him. My eyes are glued to my kid. I see him panic, he instantly starts apologizing, I drop my crap and start to him.....only to hear her cut him off with "YOU STUPID, LITTLE S***!"
My child was called something no child should ever hear. My child was shouted at by a lady, I really use that word loosely, so, so, so loosely. Obviously, I lost it. I was furious. I explained to her that she wasn't to speak to my son, under any circumstances and she absolutely was not going to yell at my child and say such deplorable things. She argued with me that he hurt her. I said I didn't care, that him accidentally walking into her didn't make it okay for her to speak to my son, to anyone's son that way. She said "I'M SORRY, BUT YOU NEED TO CONTROL YOUR ANIMALS!!!" I calmly looked at her and told her she needed to calm her mouth and stop speaking to or about my child, then I looked at him (and his friend that was spending the day with us) and said "I'm sorry you had to deal with a lady that was mean, when we leave would you like to go get some ice cream?"
On a normal day, I definitely would have immediately dealt with him running into her, I would have explained to him that we watch where we walk, we keep our brakes on, always, incase someone carelessly and rudely walks out in front of us. Normally I would have apologized and asked her if there was anything I could do to help her. In those moments, I wanted to smack her.
Instead I turned to the cashier, who stood there with her mouth open, I apologized, and asked if I could pay for my stuff or if I should just leave, and she said she was the one that was sorry, that she had just been to stunned to make the lady leave, but that she was furious for me. The people behind me were shaking their heads and murmuring, I still can't figure out what they were actually saying.
What I learned from this, is that some old ladies are mean, really stinking mean. I also learned that my heart can break because a mean, old lady screams four hateful words at my son. I learned that when faced with an older lady screaming at my son, I will lose my manners, and tell her exactly how I feel about her mouth.
What I hope everyone out in the world learns from this, is that I am not a Mom that will tolerate someone berating my child, I will not turn a blind eye to your bad behavior just because you are older than me. I also hope that you learn to watch where you are walking and do not expect a four year old to be able to stop on a dime because you were careless about where you placed your feet. In case that isn't a lesson you've learned, try and make sure you do learn not to yell at my child, because the next time I can't promise to be so kind.
Just in case you find yourself getting ready to angry comment, I talked to my kiddo when we got to the car, I explained the importance of being careful about where we walk, that if people walk out in front of us, we stop and let them pass. I told him I loved him, and was sorry the lady wasn't nice, but that he absolutely should have been more careful. Then I got him and his friend some ice cream.
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