So, in my children’s museum we have this area designated for facilitated crafts/other dumb stuff. Which means there is always one of the museum floor staff standing there helping. Like it should be cool, but most of the time it’s just a coloring book page and some crayons. But on this particular day we actually had a cut and paste craft. Which yay because we actually get to do something but omg no because a bunch of toddlers wielding scissors is just a recipe for disaster.
So I’m just chugging along, helping the kids whose parents have abandoned them with me for some free childcare, and all of a sudden I hear screaming and look over to see one child has ripped a pair of scissors out of another child’s hand, cutting them a little bit.
I rush over to help the child who was cut, getting all the necessary first aid things, and then I turn to the other child and so “no, we do not yank things out of other people hands. ”
And then, out of nowhere, the devil child’s mother pops up next to me.
“Ma'am” she says. “I understand that you must be stressed but we don’t use the word no with our child.”
And me, in my shocked state, trying to soothe the poor injured child whose parent isn’t with them, just look at her and say “…. what.”
“Yeah, see, the word no is such a strong word and we don’t like to restrict our child’s choices like that. So we prefer to reward him for good behavior and redirect his behavior if it isn’t aligned with what we think is ok. But we never use the word no.”
And I’m just like, about to blow. Because while she is saying this complete and utter bull crap, her child is again trying to yank things out of another child’s hand. And just like, what the actual hell am I dealing with right now?
So I, with a straight face, look at this mother and say, “well could you please redirect your child’s behavior before he stabs another child? Thank you.”
And she just looks at me in complete shock. And then I walk away with the crying, injured child to find their parents.
I’m lucky that the parent never complained about me, (in fact other parents complained about that child and he was not allowed back in the crafting area), because I probably would have gotten fired, but for the love of god. Parents, the word no is a wonderful word. Please use it so that your child doesn’t end up harming others because of their spoiled behavior.