thechildfreetalk:

The kids are out of school where I live right now. 

Yesterday on the street, I saw a little boy (five, maybe six) having a total melt-down. He was red in the face and shrieking, and all I could discern amongst the screams were two things: “WHY NOT?” and “BUT I WANT IT”.

As his mum (who also had a baby in a pushchair with her, next to heavy traffic) leant down to try and either calm him or discipline him, he grabbed her around the neck and heaved down on the back of her head so hard that she collapsed under his weight. He then proceeded, as she was trying to get back to her feet, to stamp on her hands with all his might in trainers she probably bought him. The pushchair (and baby) started rolling towards the traffic. 

If another woman hadn’t been coming out of the pharmacy at that exact moment, I would have spent the afternoon sitting with a counsellor, piecing together a witness statement and preparing to relive that scene for the rest of my life.

To make a point here, I’m super glad that your kids turned out nice. 

I’m glad you like them, and I’m glad you have happy times with them. That’s swell for you. I mean it. That’s just peachy.

But I’m really, truly sorry for the woman who woke up today with cuts still healing on her hands, her life still enslaved to someone that drags her to the ground and stamps on her while she’s struggling to get up, all because of “but I want”.

There’s no way to guarantee I’d roll the reproduction dice and get Nice Kids – who, I will also point out, are only ever customarily nice kids. There is no such thing as a universally nice kid. There’s just as much chance I’d roll an Absolute Little Fucker.