that which does not kill me, makes me stronger... [8/21/2007]

...whenever I hear that phrase it makes me angry. It's so clearly wrong. And I was reminded just how wrong it is this evening.

I go into the "ladies" room at an expensive Snottsdale sushi restaurant. And notice a woman quickly ushering her daughter into a stall. The girl was probably around 7 or 8. Next thing I hear: "Hurry up. Hurry up dumb ass. Hurry up you are taking too long. Hurry up. Dumb ass. Why is it taking you so long? We are going to be late. Dumb ass. Hurry up." All of this, like 15 seconds after they entered the stall. In about another 15 seconds the girl had finished peeing and they left the restroom.

Now, typically, I'm all for swearing in front of your kids. But, I learned something new tonight, I'm against swearing at your kids. I usually try not to criticize other people's parenting skills. I try really hard. But, this was like, so wrong. Dumb ass wasn't even the right swear word here. How was the girl dumb in any way for taking too long to pull her skirt down? How was the girl deserving being yelled at for having to go to the bathroom at an inconvenient time? And, then there's the fact that the girl wasn't being slow at all. She was actually pretty quick considering how young she was.

The whole thing was disgustingly stupid. If you are going to use harsh language and yell at your child it should at least be about something important that they did wrong. I started wondering if this is the way she talks to her daughter over a little thing, what does she do when something is really important?

I felt bad for that little girl, like she's going to end up messed up because of her stupid mother. There wasn't anything I could do.