[RedBloodedAmerican]

I watched a kid at a local mega mart scream at her mom "I hate you" the other day; I almost came unglued. What kept me back was realizing it's the parents fault; they are raising their children today for how they will be tomorrow.

[SuziQ]

I watched a kid at a local mega mart scream at her mom "I hate you" the other day; I almost came unglued

Yeah, well, my retort to that was "Well, I love you, but I sure don't like your behavior right now."

It happens, sometimes, when a willful child it butting heads with a willful parent. Never happened to me in public, because those intense discussions were usually confined to the house.

[redheadtoo]

What kept me back was realizing it's the parents fault

Next time, spank the parents.

[R. Scott]

Way back in my Bad Ole Daze I encountered one of those parent types. He was standing by the entrance door of the local K-Mart as I entered, holding his kid – around 5 or 6 years old. The kid looked right at me, giggled and spit. It hit my jacket. Dad just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
I calmly asked the man to set the kid down for a minute. When he did I hit him as hard as I could right on the nose. I couldn’t hit the kid – but I sure could nail the father.

[MEGoody]

I watched a kid at a local mega mart scream at her mom "I hate you" the other day.

Kids will do this kind of stuff sometimes to express anger AND try to manipulate the parent. The key is how the mom handled it.

My kids each tried that once. My response was always "Maybe you do hate me right now, but you are still going to ________." When they figured out it didn't work, they didn't do it again.

[Churchillspirit]

On several occasions I have been made out to be the baddie when reprimanding a kid in my store as the little brat is mauling the goods.

Don't touch, sweetie. THAT LADY doesn't want you to touch.

My consolation is that I may have the yard ape in my store for a while, but mommie dearest is stuck with it for life!