The children are watching…

What I saw:

The mom had a vise-like grip on her little boy’s arm as she dragged him over to the bench in front of the store. His little legs scrambled as fast as they could, trying to keep up with her as she yanked and pulled him behind her. She was clearly irritated and was taking it out on the little boy, who looked to be about 7 or 8 years old.

Behind the child, getting dragged at the end of a leash was a small puppy, gallumphing along with big puppy feet and flopping ears. When the three of them got to the bench the mom yanked the boy’s arm and shoved him into a sitting position. Pointing her finger into his face she yelled something about him sitting there and shutting up or else she was going to wallop him. She then stomped into the store, leaving the little boy and the puppy alone.

The little boy shuffled and kicked his feet, which barely touched the ground. Underneath the bench his puppy wandered and wagged his tail, sniffing and pulling on the leash and behaving like a distracted bumblebee. Suddenly the little boy yanked on the leash like a lasso, jerking the bewildered pup up off of his front feet. He pulled the dog toward him until he was squarely in front of him. Sounding much like his mother, the boy said authoritatively, “Stop pulling. Sit down, or I’m going to spank you.”  The puppy, like the little boy earlier, looked a bit unsure of what he had done to receive such a comeuppance.

No parent (or aunt, uncle, grandparent, etc.) is perfect and each of us slip up occasionally – we let a curse word fly, we get angry, we flip someone off as we’re driving.

Kids see. Kids learn from us.

An Australian organization, NAPCAN, created the below video titled “Children See. Children Do.” It shows adults at their worst and how children pick up on that behavior. It’s an excellent reminder for all adults that our children are watching us and learning.