That fateful slap

There's a good reason I sit so far back from the front desk. Just a few minutes ago we had a squalling child in the office. Of course, my first reaction was to feel sorry for the mother. I do know what it feels like to flee a public place and retreat to the privacy of my car because my child was hungry/needed to be changed and decided the whole Wal-Mart should know. Then I started wondering why she didn't take the child outside. This after all is a place of business. I've taken Moo outside on many occassions, changed a diaper, fed her a bottle and then gone back to what I was doing.

Finally she left. Then I got the full story for the assistant who sits at the entrance to the newsroom (we have a very open floor plan here, all desks, no cubicles). She said she was this "thumb and forefinger about 1/2 an inch apart" close to grabbing the child. I laughed saying OK, isn't that overreacting a bit? Then she said that the child had hauled off and slapped the mother in the face. Even worse, she did nothing about it.

That right there is my biggest pet peeve and also one of my fears with raising Moo. Mothers who don't discipline there children when they're obviously rude and impudent. (Saying no and hitting a knee is one thing, but a slap to the face?) And it's not that I'm afraid that Moo will hit me and I'll be embarassed. She's bound to try one day. It's that I won't get her outside and to the car before I put the fear of God into her like my mother did. I don't even remember trying that with my Mom. That was just one of the deadly sins, never to be tried, just like swearing at her. I'd have to have been a certified case for Bellvue to try that madness.

So far though Moo has sense. The last time she reached out and slapped my face, I just pointed my finger and said, "No," in an authoratative voice. She's still less than a year old, can't it against her, but I sure can stop and make sure that she realizes it's an action that gets a "No."

Ahh, the joys of childrearing.