A few days ago we took Lilian to an indoor kiddie play area at a local mall here in Pennsylvania and she had such a fun time climbing on the playthings and watching all the other kids run around.
So we went back the next day with her. We took off her shoes and "set her free" in the padded play area. Almost immediately, I noticed a teenaged retarded girl in there, and as soon as her eyes met Lilian's, she was captivated. She came right over and said how cute she was, etc. She lightly caressed her face and fingers (which was totally weird, I don't like strangers touching Lilian) but I understood she probably didn't know better and I let it go. Then when Lilian was standing on the top of a play giant box of crayons and couldn't get down, she extended her arms to be carried down, and the girl went to go pick her up. I stepped between them and asked her please not to lift her, and she agreed. When Lilian was put on the floor, she began exploring the play area and walking around, and the girl followed close behind. I am terrified of Lilian being kidnapped in public, so I followed close behind too, like a row of ducks.
So, Lilian was waddling around and a little Hispanic boy (about 3?) comes slamming into her and tackles her to the ground and she was laid out flat on her back. The kid got up and ran away, and I chalked it up to an accident, and a rude kid that didn't know to apologize. We were sitting next to a guy who had another little boy there about Lilian's same age or a few months older (he was really cute and they were playing a little). Next thing we knew, the crazy kid comes running around again and knocks down and hits both of our kids again. He also fell while doing so, so while on the ground, Missy said to him "you don't hit" in a mom voice. Well, he reached out and purposely punched me in the leg, than got up and ran away! Little bastard. He was running around hitting, pushing, and tackling a lot of the kids, but was specifically targeting Lily and her new friend, because they were the two smallest. (BTW, this was a 42 inches and under play area, meant for babies and little kids). We also had our bags (purse, diaper bag, etc.) that we had to keep our eye on and the retarded teenager was still following Lilian around trying to pet her, so it was a little overwhelming, a lot to keep our eyes on. Most of the other kids were respectful of little Lily, waiting for her to clear the bottom of the
slide before going down, waiting their turn, etc.
The little horrible kid ran charging at Lilian's "friend" with his fist cocked by his ear like he was going to punch... and the kid's dad stuck his foot out and tripped him (LOL) but he still hit the little boy on the way down and he cried. His dad picked him up and we were trying to figure out who he was "with." Just then the retarded girl came over and tried comforting the other kid and said something that made us understand she was with the horrible kid. (But instead of scolding him, she was patting and comforting the crying boy, which was totally inappropriate!) The kid got over it and went back to playing...
Well, one more time, the horrible kid jumped off the slide and body slammed Lilian and I lost my cool!
He was laying on the floor at the bottom of the slide and I had picked up Lily off the floor, and so I pointed at the kid and shouted loud enough for all the parents in the play area to hear "whose kid is this?" I waited and no answer. So louder I said "whose kid is this?" Still no answer, so I looked from person to person and asked "does anyone know whose kid is this?" "Is no one with this kid?" No one responded, so I got loud. "WHOSE KID IS THIS?" I screamed loud enough to echo throughout the whole food court! "IS THIS ANYBODY'S KID?" I must have shouted it ten times. The entire food court at dinner time went silent and was watching me. I couldn't believe that a 3 year old kid was left alone in a mall play area. Then, we saw a family of 5 walking slowly with their heads down over from the faaaar end of the food court (over by the Burger King) - it looked like two sisters (one being the mom) and their two husbands, and their mom (grandma of the kid). They entered the play area and once just inside (they didn't walk all the way over to us), said something like "what happened". I don't really remember much of what happened next because i was SO pissed my blood was boiling. I told her "your kid hit and tackled my daughter THREE times." She shouted something along the lines of "relax, he's only 2!" And that's what set Missy off... and she started yelling from the other side "But You're NOT two and you should be watching your kid. He's been hitting ALL the kids." And a bunch of the other parents piped in including Lilian's "friend's" dad who said "yeah, he's BAD!" etc. Her only retorts were "he's only two, lighten up" and "you watch YOUR kid" to which Missy replied "we ARE all watching our kids, that's how we know that YOUR kid is out of control!" The retarded girl was standing with the adults and trying to yell at us also, but one of them covered her mouth. It turned into an all out shouting match with us and some other parents at the ghetto parents. Missy even told her she was a bad mother for leaving her child unattended. (And if the retard was supposed to be the babysitter, that was pretty ridiculous, because she wasn't capable and probably needed her own babysitter.) I can't believe that with FIVE adults, they left the kids alone so they could enjoy some Whoppers... and that they didn't choose the tables near the play area, that they sat as far away as they could. They took their sweet time putting their kid's sneakers on... then their pride made them loiter by the exit of the play area for a while to intimidate us, but all the kids kept playing MUCH safer with that holy terror gone. They eventually left with their tails between their legs. The whole food court had heard the exchange.... and they were totally in the wrong, and didn't even have good comebacks.
Lilian wasn't hurt, but if he kept it up, someone would have gotten hurt, maybe even him. I really lost my mind... and so did Missy. It's totally uncharacteristic of Missy to yell or have a confrontation. Which made it even more awesome. But seriously, bad parenting offends me so much, but especially when it puts my baby in danger.