A disgraceful parent

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I had heard/read about the urban legend of parents using police as the phantom bad guy, but never had I witnessed it. Today I stopped in Target on the way home from a mediation. As I was checking out, a little boy was crying at the top of his lungs, basically having a tantrum.

Instead of dealing with the situation, the mother told him to stop crying or she would call the police man to take him away. Both my cashier and I stared at each other, dumbfounded. This stupid mother was making the police into the bogeyman.

Shame on her. If the child is ever in real danger, he won't turn to the police for help. He'll be too scared. It might be more prudent if she faced her own inadequacies as a parent. Sigh, Carol