Some parents amaze me

Nurses General Nursing

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Some parents absoulutely amaze me. Not really, just how stupid and petty and vindictive can they be. Case in point.

Parents of a 3 yo child. Bring that cute little child in for swallowing a quarter. Xray shows the quarter in the stomach. GI and the Endo lab come in. Off to endo lab. Sedated child, scoped and removed quarter. No big deal ehh. All is well. They put the quarter in a specimen jar and give it back to the parents. A souvenir I guess.

The parents in their alledged wisdom discuss with the child about swallowing foriegn objects. Wasnt foriegn though, it was an American Quarter.

The parents show the child the quarter, and let the child handle it. Yes it happened. The child immediately put it back in the mouth and promptly swallowed it.

Moral of the story

some people should not be parents.

What gets my goat in places like Wal-Mart is when the kids are screaming like banshees or behaving in a way to make a savage blush and there are 4 adults with them!

Couldn't one of y'all just stay home with the kids every once in a while?? I had two rowdy little boys- who were not allowed to run wild in stores or restaurants. When they were tired, hungry, or not feeling well, they stayed at home with one parent while the other shopped!

I took snacks with us to restaurants to tide them over until the food arrived. We went to family-type places and when we were done, we got up and left!

Someone else mentioned selfishness on the part of the parents, and that's really true. I think when you bring someone else into the world, there's a period of time when you really need to put that someone else's welfare ahead of what you want. Novel concept, I guess.

right - it is novel these days. Being a parent is not a hobby!

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I mean, in my 30 years of parenting, I'm never had an embarrassing moment, and I've certainly never lost my temper! ;) I've definately never snapped at any of my children in a public place! :lol2: I've never uttered a curse word either! :smokin::coollook::clown:

You all may touch my robe as I pass!

That is why I think the first story about the quarter is actually just funny and not bad parenting.

However, slapping a child in the face while she is getting stitches is just plain wrong. As a health professional, I would have softly said something to her about the inappropriateness of this - not in earshot of the child however.

steph

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You all may touch my robe as I pass!

i would, but i can't reach your throne. :bow:

leslie :saint:

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I could tell so many stories about mishaps my kids have gotten into . . . . . doesn't make me a bad parent. Just makes my kids normal.

steph

mishaps can be normal, but too often, they are the result of negligence.

parents just don't watch their kids as closely as they should.

i guess it depends upon the frequency and severity of these "mishaps".

leslie

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

The first story didn't seem to warrent the outcry that ensued. In fact, it sounds like something I might have done. A lot of 3 year olds are old enough to understand and learn from things. I can just see myself saying "See, here's the quarter you swallowed, look at it. See all the trouble it caused!"

I really don't see that those particular parents should be insulted like all this. In fact, I don't like it when healthcare workers start a feeding frenzy about some of their patients and their families.

We all have our dumb moments as parents. I had a good friend whose husband accidentally ran over and killed their 4 year old daughter. You can't judge people by their worst mistakes.

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I have seen some nearly intolerable things, why do they seem to always happen at Wal-Mart. One thing that happened a few weeks ago that I actually went to the mother and removed the kid and called the cops, which I normally wouldn't do but this is what happened....

I was in the Christmas aisle looking around with my hubby. I noticed a cart go by, I had to scoot my cart over, with a little, maybe 2 at the most, curly haired little girl. She was being allowed to stand in the front of the cart ( I won't even get into this). Mom turned to look at the aisle behind her and I was about 5-6 feet from the little girl when in slow motion the little tyke reaches for a stocking on the shelf and falls out (head first) onto the floor. I jumped and went to her and by the time I was there her mom in a LOUD voice started screaming, "Why the hell did you do that" while shaking the little girl who had just hit head first onto the concrete floor. I pulled out my cell and told my hubby to call the cops and I pulled the little girl from the mom (Probably not the wisest but I am a mom and the only thing I could think to do was hold the little girl and make sure she wasn't bleeding). The mother was screaming at me and the little girl for being a Dumb Sh** and falling out. I just sat their rocking the little girl til security came, paramedics and cops. I was so angry I was shaking all over and crying myself because I was so furious with this person (used very loosely). I don't know what ended up happening but I hope they arrested her orifice.

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I mean, in my 30 years of parenting, I'm never had an embarrassing moment, and I've certainly never lost my temper! ;) I've definately never snapped at any of my children in a public place! :lol2: I've never uttered a curse word either! :smokin::coollook::clown:

You all may touch my robe as I pass!

There's a BIG difference between getting annoyed w/ a kid in the supermarket at 12 noon when he/she is usually awake and pummeling him/her in Wal-Mart at 12 midnight for rubbing his/her eyes tired and crying. Saying something like Da--it just behave is not the same as calling the child a B--ch in public and I have seen it. No parent is perfect. There are so many people I see who are downright cruel to the children, let them run wild and unsupervised across the parking lot or in the hospital, or have them dressed for July in December. My kids have coloured each others' faces COMPLETELY w/ markers, eaten food out of the kitchen trash while i was in the bathroom and washed the wallpaper w/ baby wipes during a nap. That is life and that's normal. Being cruel and neglectful is just horrible and we see it way too much! I am sure you're a good parent in general. I don't think anyone is razzing people for imperfection, but rather downright neglect, stupidity, and even abuse. The case of that beautiful little girl they found in Galveston a few weeks ago is just too horrible to even think about. Mayb I am mean, but I would've been very irritated w/ the people whose kid swallowed the quarter right after it was removed. I do think it was dumb to do it. Funny, not cruel ,but really dumb. A person who runs over his child by accident deserves only our deepest symapthy. That is a terrible, terrible accident.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, private care.

I just completed a peds clinical rotation, and it was all I could do to keep from saying, "Hey, you - outta the gene pool!" to most of the parents I met.

:trout:

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

You know, I really understand where people are coming from with their frustrations here. I just think all this talk of eugenics and that 'stupid people ought to not breathe nor breed' is distasteful and really shouldn't be posted on a public forum that represents nursing. Sorry to be a killjoy, but it rubs me the wrong way and reminds me of some of the thinking from the 1930s that led to some awful stuff.

I just don't like making fun of less fortunate people. I know there are a lot of lousy parents out there, but this thread bothers me. I guess I won't post on it anymore.

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Kylee, if you're carrying a sleeping baby in a carrier and have two little ones to keep by the hand, those Mommy spaces are a godsend. Now that my children are bigger, or when I just had one with me, I left the spaces to someone who needed them more.

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You know, I really understand where people are coming from with their frustrations here. I just think all this talk of eugenics and that 'stupid people ought to not breathe nor breed' is distasteful and really shouldn't be posted on a public forum that represents nursing. Sorry to be a killjoy, but it rubs me the wrong way and reminds me of some of the thinking from the 1930s that led to some awful stuff.

I just don't like making fun of less fortunate people. I know there are a lot of lousy parents out there, but this thread bothers me. I guess I won't post on it anymore.

Jls,

Who said these are less fortunate parents? Because the incident happened at Walmart? Bad parents populate every social class. Ever hear about the CNN reporter Anderson Cooper's background? I grew up with the children of wealthy parents who spent precious little time being parents, and were just awful to their kids. Nurses see the repercussions of neglect and abuse. As well, they are legally required to report what they observe. People are here to exchange thoughts, not "represent nursing." But you do have a point - the 30s in Europe are much closer in our memories than the genocide we, or I should say the European colonists, did to the original Americans. Maybe not all of us, but my father was injured physically and mentally in Germany in the 40s, and the damage is passed on from generation to generation, so WWII is ever present in my memory. btw, I don't like to say "native" Americans because it implies the all the tribes that lived here are somehow less civilized than the white settlers who systematically wiped them out. They weren't as technologically advanced as the Nazis, but they had clever methods, such as "peace offerings" of small pox infected blankets. But truly, I don't think people ranting about bad parents are picking out any particular ethnic group here. I don't think you're being a killjoy by saying so - let's face it, it does seem very very creepy to think anybody could tell someone if they are "worthy" of being a parent. But really, when you see the way some parents treat their kids, you wish you could bring the kids home with you. It's just heart breaking. What can you do but vent?

Diahni

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We may say tongue in cheek "stupid people shouldn't breed, etc' It's a joke, a vent to some extent. To another extent it is truly born out of frustration with people who do not take of the kids they have, but yet have more and more or fail to take advice, suggestions, etc. and bring child in for same problem, accident, etc. over and over again. This wastes time and resources, but most importantly is not good for the child. Not to mention that they are often bringing up a kid who may not be attentive to his/her own children's needs. Everyone of us has done some amazingly stupid things at some point in our lives or at many points. Hopefully, we learn and do not do them over and over. The people who let the kid eat the quarter again, subjected that kid to possibly more pain, risk of sedation, etc. by what they did--not good for the kid. Poor kid, he doesn't know any better. They are not cruel, but they they were not thinking and ultimately the kid would pay the price if he was sent back to endoscopy again.

The woman who slapped the girl being sutured is stupid--she doesn't realize that at the child's level of development, her response it totally understandable. Worst of all she is cruel to her child. She would be someone I'd report to children/youth services. Just the other day a mom of baby #3 asked us when are we going to tell her to feed the baby. She doesn't think she fed her for "like most of the day" and she has been crying on and off. That's very frustrating!!! Maybe we are dumb to expect a 30 year old 3rd time mom to know it is time to feed her baby when we have explained to her about feedings and shown her where the bottles are and how to call the nurse w/ questions.

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