May 31 2009
Uncomfortable Situation
One of our good friends lost a child a few years back, so some of us gathered at a nature preserve to celebrate her life. It was us, our friend and her toddler daughter, another good friend with her toddler daughter, and then two children their mother and their grandparents. It was a wonderful day until the family with the children, mother and grandparents showed up- then it became awkward and uncomfortable.
The mother lives in a homeless shelter with her two daughters. Which I don’t have a problem with, I’ve had many students that have ended up in that kind of situation just because of bad luck. But out of all of my students, the parents have always worked really hard to get their families into a better situation successfully. This is not the case with the mother. She was kicked out of her parents house for not paying rent or working years ago, and has been at the shelter since with her daughters and suddenly it seems to be taking a toll on them. The older one was surely and rude for the afternoon, and the younger one didn’t really understand how to interact socially with others. But they are both young, and kids do go through phases.
But then, on the tram ride back to the parking lot from this nature preserve the mother just lost it on the younger daughter who is maybe two. Grabbing her and threatening to “pop her butt” LOUDLY the entire tram ride back. I am not someone who is opposed to spankings in certain situations, but this was just excessive. The grandmother eventually took the child over her knee and started rubbing her bottom to “warm up the butt”. While the mother is still screaming that she is going to “pop her butt”. I was SO in shock by the entire event. The tram driver at this point is staring at the mother as this is all going on.
I just don’t know how to even react to this. Would it be wrong to call CPS to look into this? These girls have been living in the shelter with their mother for years, and it doesn’t look like she is really planning on moving out. Her parently skills are just appalling to me, as is evident by the children’s social skills and her own screaming at a two year old.
I know that I don’t have children, but I have studied child development and have enough common sense to know when something is wrong. I don’t even know if CPS would look into the case, but my heart just breaks for those children.
