Posted on 09/02/2009 5:45:31 AM PDT by GoldStandard
A Gwinnett County man is in custody Wednesday accused of slapping a stranger’s crying toddler in a Stone Mountain Wal-Mart.
Witnesses say that Roger Stephens, 61, warned the mother of the child that he would “shut up the crying child if she couldn’t,” WSB-TV is reporting. Stephens is accused of slapping the 2-year-old multiple times in the face and then walking away.
A bystander held Stephens until store security came to assist, according to the story.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Yes, I agree. And there are a lot of people in the world like that.
I also see some posters assuming the child was having a tantrum. Guess they don’t know any kids who get hungry or sleepy.
It has never occurred to me to slap an unruly child in WallyWorld, but the thought of coming up behind a tribe of wild Indians with an air horn has certainly put a smile on my face!
having taken our youngest who is two out a Mex restaurant in Thompsons Station once and to the car where I put him over my knee for a copuple of whacks, he now knows what I mean when I grab him up and sternly ask if he wants to go to the car for a spanking.
My wife....only disciplines when angry or frustrated and is much much more mallebale than me. She will leave a store and give up or on occasion give in.
Many women...especially single or divorced moms do this and it does the kid no favor.
Meterodaddies do it too.
When i lived in Manhattan in the 80s I thought most liberal Jews I knew there were very indulgent with their kids and let them control conversations and whanot...now most GenX and Y parents do that too regardless of cultural backdrop
Kids cry for a reason, they are tired, hungry, not feeling well, sick, scared, uncomfortable, gas, needs a diper change...NOT to be a pain in the butt, unlike some adult passangers. YOU DON’T HIT little kids, especialy one the are not yours.
On a flight from Omaha to Newark a women with three small kids had her hands full, the youngest would not stop crying, nothing helped, too many tired wound-up kids and not enougth mommy.
I told her I would handle it, I picked him up, he looked at me, burped put his head down and slept to Newark. I was more surprised than anyone, I just did what I had seen my Mom and Sisters do, seemed to work.
Perhaps you should have asked her if you could handle it....
This kind of "butt-in-ski-ism" is almost as bad as - as you so eloquently stated - hitting kids that aren't yours.
That is a great, no screaming, you don’t go until you can behave.
Yes, assuming the child is an undisciplined “brat” just because she was crying. It would be nice if you never had to be out in public with an upset child, but even when you plan, things can go wrong.
Maybe she was planning to go shopping when her husband got home, but he called and said he had to work another shift. Maybe the child fell down. There are a variety of possiblities that can befall even a responsible mother and a pleasant child.
I missed a word, I asked if I could “HELP HER” handle it.
I have a grandson who sleeps a lot. He’ll be 3 soon and is staying awake more. However, he whined when he couldn’t take a nap. It was difficult to do anything or go anywhere. Sometimes, you just had to go anyway.
Nevermind.
Were it one of my kids or grand kids I guarantee that Mr. Stephens would never hear a crying kid or walk down a flight of stairs without painfully recalling, in some subconscious Pavlovian response, the incident that immediately followed striking that child.
I’m about the same age as this guy. I also have a two year old granddaughter. He should thank the Good Lord that he didn’t slap my granddaughter.
I don’t understand why people go around with ery small children to big crowded places. It doesn’t work for anyone.
“caused us to stop taking her shopping”
I would have done the same thing... I was fortunate because outtings weren’t ruined by a force of wills between my kids and I. Mine seemed to act out @ momnlaws and frankly, I thought the teenage yrs were far worse.
Because the grocery store doesn’t deliver?
Two year olds get a pass. Six year olds who are screaming in Walmart are the ones that annoy me. Still doesn’t give a stranger the right to hit them.
“It?s surprising the patience they find to soothe their own child and quiet them when encouraged by someone else.”
That is really nice...
Thought it was just me! First thing I thought when I saw the mug shot was that he looked like Harrison Ford with a dye job. LOL
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