On the latest episode of her podcast with sister Sam, Billie Faiers has revealed that while she was on the way back from a family holiday in Dubai, her son Arthur was having a tough time and having a meltdown, causing an angry woman in the seat in front to smack him.
I don’t know about you, but as a parent, being stuck in a confined space with a child in full-on tantrum mode is the stuff of nightmares.
We have all been there when our child has chosen to lose it at a time that’s less than convenient to us and no matter what we do, they just don’t stop. It can be mortifying and leaves us feeling a little hot under the collar, the fear of others’ judgement and annoyance hanging over you as you try to calm your child down.
But, as Billie found out when she sat Arthur on her lap to try and do just that, it’s not as easy as others may think.
While a child is in full swing there is no reasoning with them and doing so can just make things worse - in Billie and Arthur's case, he started kicking the chair in front, which is when the agitated woman whose chair, he was kicking, turned and slapped him.
Quite rightly, Billie had more than a few choice words to say to this woman and I think most parents would react the same.
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From experience, others like to ‘tut’ or pass comment in these types of situations, judging rather than offering help and giving you a look of annoyance rather than empathy.
There have been several times I have had disgruntled people behind me in the supermarket queue when one of my children has started to lose patience.
I too have reacted, tutting loudly back at one woman and sarcastically thanking her for her offer of help, and when one bloke asked if I could ‘shut that thing up’ while queuing in the never-ending Post Office queue, I politely asked if he could ‘shut himself up.’
Rude? Yes, but no parent likes their child kicking off, and children kick off a lot. That’s part of what they do.
All parents are aware of how annoying for other people their child making noise of any sort can be – we live with it 24/7, but to physically attack a child as the passenger did to Billie’s son, is just not right. At all.
Smacking your own child is not necessary, so why you would think that smacking someone else’s would be ok? And this is the thing, this woman had her own children sat there with her. Where was the solidarity? There is no way her children had never had a public meltdown.
This woman may have been tired and yes, she had a right to be disgruntled but slapping a child who essentially was acting his age? Wrong on all levels and Billie was right to get upset.
Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below.
