All Articles Tagged "wild kids"
Patti LaBelle’s Diva Rant And The Reality Of Parents Who Let Their Kids Run Wild
Source: atoast2wealth.com
My mother has been a super fan of Patti LaBelle for years. Before there were “stans,” there was my mom. If you just happen to be listening to music on your computer, she’ll ask you to pull up and play “On My Own.” Try and do a tribute to the singer (a la BET), and my mom turns up her face at all the singers trying to “do” Patti: “Nobody can sing a song like Patti!”
This type of love and following has made LaBelle pretty huge over her long career, and of course, somewhat of a diva. But there’s nothing wrong with a little diva-tude, right?
Wrong.
Allegedly, it was that diva-sized attitude that caused the singer to snap off on New Yorker, Roseanna Monk, and her then 18-month-old daughter, Genevieve, at the Trump Place in Manhattan in 2010. After little Genevieve was spotted by the singer “innocently” running around the lobby, according to reports, LaBelle wasn’t having it. She cursed out Monk, and her rant was enough to freak out both mother and child (and the water LaBelle threw on Monk didn’t help either). Allegedly, the child went from crying hysterically to vomiting, possibly out of fear. After the incident happened, the little girl supposedly had a change in her behavior for a few months.
I heard about this story, and the lawsuit that came as a result of LaBelle’s behavior. But this morning, while moving around and cleaning up, I saw Roseanna Monk, her husband, and her daughter Genevieve on “Inside Edition,” talking about everything that had transpired. According to Monk, she had no clue who was yelling at her and her daughter, but her husband found out and told her that it was LaBelle. The family was surprised that it was the famous singer, and decided that taking legal action would be the next best step (aka, they said “CHA CHING!”). In the end, though LaBelle initially denied that she verbally attacked Monk and her daughter, instead of going to court, the singer recently decided to settle on the whole thing for a reported $100,000. The family says they plan on giving the money to charity.
Watching the Monks on TV, and thinking about the diva-esque antics that many celebrities get accused of, I felt kind of bad. If what LaBelle was accused of was true, she was definitely way out of line and out of order for her behavior. It’s one thing to say something to someone about their children, but it’s another to curse them out until the cows come home (and throw water at that). But after taking everything in, I couldn’t help but think of the many times I’ve watched parents let their children run around and not pay attention to what they’re doing. What would be the end result? Making complete strangers responsible for keeping these kids from falling, breaking something, or hurting someone else. As horrid as LaBelle’s alleged behavior might have been, the struggle to remain calm, cool and collected when parents let their kids go Tazmanian devil wild in public is real.
From personal experience, I’ve stood in lines and watched little kids stand up on the front basket of rolling carts in grocery stores, watched children run around and knock down clothes in stores, and seen children playing tag in a church while people were up front during service seeking prayer and comfort from a pastor. Wild, indeed. In the latter situation, it took the pastor to put attention on the fact that the children were acting a fool (“I need these children to play after service”), and when he did, it was a stranger, not their mother or guardian (he/she might have been up front with other members), who turned around, grabbed a child who didn’t hear the memo, and abruptly told her to “SIT DOWN!”
According to some, it’s not a stranger’s place to get someone in check about their children, or to check someone else’s child for that matter. But these days, it’s becoming necessary for the sake of the kid. When working in retail, I saw many children pump slippery sample lotion onto the floor (a danger to them and others), stand 0n open drawers and try and get atop fake dog decorations (thinking they were riding horses maybe?), all objects that weren’t stable in the least. I would wait for a second in the hopes that the mother busy looking for a deal would take her head out of the clearance rack from across the room, and come get her kids. When she wouldn’t, I would feel so inclined to say something, especially when I could smell a possible lawsuit looming in the horizons if I kept my mouth shut: “HEY! Uh uh. You need to get down off of that.” Only when others would look (some relieved that somebody got these children together) would a mother come, angry, tugging at her child’s arm for acting a fool and looking crazy at me for setting them straight. I would feel a little bad, but at the same time, in the back of my mind I would think of the possibility of a child getting hurt because their parent decided that keeping an eye on their child wasn’t 100 percent necessary during a big sale.
I don’t condone or make excuses for LaBelle’s alleged behavior in any way, but how many of us can knowingly say that we’ve been there? Maybe not in screeching, water-throwing form, but you get what I mean. You know the moment: ready to give someone a piece of your mind because they allow their child to think any and everywhere can be a playground. Luckily for us, we don’t have $100,000 to waste on strangers, so we take our two cents, in a more calm and sometimes even playful manner, to the child. As much as people don’t want others trying to tell them how to take care of their kids, there’s just too many people out here trying to push the cruise control button when it comes to getting children together, therefore, sometimes you have to step up and step in. As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,” but at some point, mommy and daddy have to get it together now don’t they?
If you don’t want crazy people like Patti LaBelle (no shade Patti, I’m just trying to drive my point home) getting at you about your unsupervised child, then it would be best if you kept an eye on them. That is, for the sake of their own safety, other people’s safety and everyone’s sanity.
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If I Wanted to Deal With Kids, I’d Have My Own: A Letter to Parents Who Think Everyone Loves Their Kid as Much as They Do
I have a really bad habit I’m trying to break: mean mugging kids. I know, it’s terrible, but I think I’ve found the correct place to redirect my anger—their parents—because most times the things that bring me to turn up my nose at these little ones really isn’t their fault. They don’t know any better. However, their grown parents should and that’s why I’d like to share a little knowledge with them. Nobody cares about their kids like they do.
Generally speaking, I don’t hate children. I hate children I have to deal with through no choice of my own. And since kids under the age of 4 or 5 are generally oblivious and innocent to the world around them, I really hate their parents who think everyone else’s world has to revolve around their kids just because theirs does.
What I’m really talking about here are random situations that possibly may not even bother the average American with a normal blood pressure, but for someone who was absent the day they passed out patience in school, these things drive me crazy. Take for instance waiting in line to order food from a restaurant. You know how there will be a mother-child pair in front of you and the mom doesn’t think to ask the child what he wants to eat until the cashier actually calls on them and then we’re waiting another two or three minutes for him to decide? The first 30 seconds of “umms” and I don’t knows” and “no, I don’t want that”s are cute, but when you’re about to make 10 people late for work just to give your 18-month-old child a choice of what he wants to eat for more breakfast, it’s not.
Or what about the parents who think the grocery line is the right time to teach their child math? I support learning and I’m definitely glad to see a parent being hands-on. However, when I have one item and I’m standing in the one line out of a possible 30 that’s open in Target and I have to wait for you to explain the difference in value between pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters the first time you let your child try to pay for a pack of gum, I have a problem. And then the parent always looks back at you with that half-grinned “sorry” that makes you look like a jerk if you don’t smile back and say, “it’s OK,” when in your head all you want to yell is “get out the emm-effin way!” At this point I really don’t care if they pass their first grade math class or not, go pick up a workbook on aisle 9 and spare the rest of us.
Now, like I said I have absolutely no patience so while those may seem like harmless examples of children being in the way, there are also the times when kids are literally in the way, like physically. I’m not a small person and I have no interest in trying to tiptoe around someone else’s child who actually is and I would appreciate it if other parents didn’t make me. Guess who looked like a jacka** a few weeks ago in the checkout line at the store when I went to walk away from the cashier and unknowingly stepped on a little girl who proceeded to collapse to the ground and cry and scream outrageously loud like she was murdered? All I was trying to go about my childless business and now all of a sudden I was getting stared down by angry onlookers like some sort of child abuser for not looking out for some unknown kid. And where was her mother? Over at another register completely oblivious to what was going on. I stood there saying sorry over and over again and asking was she OK til the mom finally looked up and was like, “oh, she’s fine it’s OK.” Well, glad to see you’re not about to flip on me or anything but how about you keep your child by your side next time?
Then there are the instances where you see a kid clowning in the middle of the floor, sidewalk, street, walkway, etc. from a mile away and maneuver yourself so that your paths don’t cross because you see their parent obviously doesn’t have sense enough to tell them something like I don’t know, be still, let this stranger walk by, get out the way, excuse me, stop doing acrobatics in the middle of the walkway. Without question, 99 percent of the time that child is somehow going to run straight into you, hit you with something, cause you to trip, cause you to cause them to trip, or something in the like. Now you’d be wrong to hit somebody else’s child back (right?) but for some reason, parents just think their child is free to roam freely in the great out- or indoors like the world is their oyster and throw adults off their path. Sorry, mom and dad, about 1 in 5 women are out in these streets without any bambinos, and like I said in the headline: if we wanted to be bothered with children we’d be bothered with children of our own.
I may totally feel different, should an amazing act of nature akin to the immaculate conception occur and I somehow become someone’s mother down the line, but I honestly don’t see it happening. You can tell the type of parents who think everyone should have to deal with their child, they’re the type of adults who think everyone should have to deal with their mess. I genuinely try to affect other people’s lives and wellbeing as little as possible on a daily. I’ve got my debit card out before I’m at the register, my metro pass stays handy, I know what I want when it’s time for me to place an order, and I’m not trying to waste anybody else’s time or my own. I know it’s hard being a parent and learning opportunities surround us 24/7 but um, I’m not trying to be a part of your social experiment. Keep that child rearing contained to you and yours, the same place where that child needs to be—next to you and away from strangers.
Do you get sick of dealing with other people’s kids in public?
*Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com
Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.
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