So there was a complaint today. I bad library page, no biscuit. A parent complained to my branch manager because as I stopped her kid from pulling out some books by (I'll use her words), "Grabbing my son's arm! Next time she should just tell me!"
Or something.
GRABBING.
Her TWO-YEAR-old's arm.
So...how many of you have ever done that to a 2 yr old? If not grabbed, how about just touched a two-year old when they didn't expect it? (on their arm people) What oh what is the general reaction? I'd say SCREAMS! (And I'd be right.) TEARS? (Oh yeah.) HELLO, who in their right mind would do that when mom is 12 inches away from the kid?
I was shelving and the kid pulls out a book and drops it on the floor. (Yes, mom right next to him; her reaction? Nothing.) His arm goes in for another one. I put my hand in front of the book (stopping it from flying) then move his hand, with my finger, out of the shelf, while saying, "No, sweetie, don't do that." I'm SMILING even. I look up at mom and smile some more. He looks up at mom all huffy, no scream, no tears. But that "she just stopped me from doing something look." He says something in 2-yr-old jargon.
Mom gets all funny, "Okay, let's go." They'd been in the library for a while. The kid had RUN all over the place. He toppled over a good 10 vhs tapes and I didn't need to clean up after him with the books too. Was mom near him during his escapade? HECK NO. Was mom making him STOP the pulling of books and movies and whatever he could get his hands on, onto the floor? NO.
Let the kid run around unsupervised. I know this isn't a big town or anything, but it is a ski/resort town. (And the sarcasm is mounting so I warn you now) Not like there aren't all kind of weirdos that hang at the library(hi, I had my own stalker living BEHIND the place this summer), or strangers, or foreign kids and out-of-towners that come to work the resorts, or drifters that are warming themselves up before they thumb it out of town. LET YOUR KIDS RUN FREE...I was raised mostly in L.A., so okay, I'm jaded, I guess. But at that age and size you don't let them run rampant. If anything can we remember IT'S A LIBRARY not a DAY CARE CENTER! I'm not there to watch the kids! I'm not their to clean up after them. HELLO, we're not even allowed to have volunteers under 16 without parental supervision!
AAAAUUUUUMMMMMMmmmmm....(deep breath).
My supervisor says I need to let this go, move on. She's behind me 100% and knows me well enough to know I would not GRAB a kid shy of stopping them from climbing the bookshelves (yes, I've done that before)...in fact....hmmm, yes, I've stopped this particular kid from climbing up on the tables. Carried him down and placed him next to mom. She didn't have ANYTHING to say that day...hmmm, what a revelation. My point here is, I guess, that I would happily let this go (I would, honest) IF I'D ACTUALLY GRABBED HIS ARM! I would have apologized. HI, teacher training, you don't touch the kids, period. Heck, at my last school admin decided we all needed to learn the way to "hug" students if you needed to. A one-handed-no-body-contact-funky-posture-teacher-student-pat/hug-thing. My reaction, of course, was well, umm, I don't touch kids, period. I mean, EEEEEUUUUUUWWW. I think I mentioned the whole issue I have with kids, especially at the under 10 size, they have a tendency to be sticky and/or leak. Over 10 they're sticky and/or stinky. UGH, okay, enough ranting.
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1 comment:
gawd, i HATE that! absolutely HATE that! i don't understand the whole parent psychology thing they're putting out nowadays. you're not supposed to spank your kids, you're not supposed to suppress them, you're not supposed to neglect them.
i mean, i'm not a parent, but some parents don't discipline their kids enough! their kids are little devils in the mall! they should be kept on leashes. don't they get embarrassed in public? don't they realize their kids are little devils? it's parents like these that get featured on those stupid nanny 911 shows and they can't figure out why their kids are such brats!
last year, one of the schools faced a law suit because a first year wrestler boy came home with bruises and a bloody nose. he said the coaches beat him up and the mom flipped out. he said he was "lying in a pool of his own blood." um, hello, wrestling coaches don't let a kid just lie on the mat in blood. and bruises and bloody noses happen in practice. we don't intentionally hurt kids; wrestling is actually very structured and injuries do happen because it's a full contact sport. this kid was only a first year wrestler, too. unfortunately, the kid pulled out of that school and came to the one where i coach at. he started practicing with us, and all the coaches here are on our toes with him. it's so stupid. it's like, why even wrestle if you can't handle practice? well, actually, the kid doesn't even come all the time...which i prefer.
so yeah...totally feel you on this one.
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