Stay at Home Moms
magentawarped
member
How would you have reacted?
magentawarped
member
This may get long, so I apologize in advance.
We were all at Chuck E Cheese tonight (yeah, I know...) and DD, who is 2.5, was playing one of those games where all these little plastic balls roll out and she has to throw them at targets. This other little boy who was around her age came over and just started playing too. DD didn't seem to mind, so we let him play, and there was no adult around that seemed to be watching him.
The game ended, but there were still balls in the well. The little boy grabbed a couple, and when he and DD both reached for the third at the same time, he grabbed her with both hands around her throat and started pushing her back. She looked terrified. My H was the closest to them, and he immediately yelled "NO! You do NOT choke her!" and pulled him off of her. Of course, this is when mom shows up. She started to get angry, but my husband just said "Your kid was choking my daughter." She didn't apologize, just said "He didn't mean it" and "You shouldn't yell at him."
My H was livid, and I was angry, but I told him that he still has to realize that the kid was a toddler. He asked how I expected him to react. Rationally, I know one of us should have removed his hands and just firmly told him no, then found his mother. Realistically, had I been closer and seen it first, I probably would've done exactly what my H did.
So, what do you think? How would you want to react, and how do you think you would actually react?
Also, I'm not crazy thinking that two handed choking is way outside the realm of normal for a toddler, right?
BTW, DD had a scratch and a welt on her throat, but she's otherwise okay and forgot about it in all of 20 seconds.
We were all at Chuck E Cheese tonight (yeah, I know...) and DD, who is 2.5, was playing one of those games where all these little plastic balls roll out and she has to throw them at targets. This other little boy who was around her age came over and just started playing too. DD didn't seem to mind, so we let him play, and there was no adult around that seemed to be watching him.
The game ended, but there were still balls in the well. The little boy grabbed a couple, and when he and DD both reached for the third at the same time, he grabbed her with both hands around her throat and started pushing her back. She looked terrified. My H was the closest to them, and he immediately yelled "NO! You do NOT choke her!" and pulled him off of her. Of course, this is when mom shows up. She started to get angry, but my husband just said "Your kid was choking my daughter." She didn't apologize, just said "He didn't mean it" and "You shouldn't yell at him."
My H was livid, and I was angry, but I told him that he still has to realize that the kid was a toddler. He asked how I expected him to react. Rationally, I know one of us should have removed his hands and just firmly told him no, then found his mother. Realistically, had I been closer and seen it first, I probably would've done exactly what my H did.
So, what do you think? How would you want to react, and how do you think you would actually react?
Also, I'm not crazy thinking that two handed choking is way outside the realm of normal for a toddler, right?
BTW, DD had a scratch and a welt on her throat, but she's otherwise okay and forgot about it in all of 20 seconds.
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Re: How would you have reacted?
The other mom's response makes my blood boil. My kid isn't even a year old yet and when he flails his arms near another kid I apologize. Wow. Also, why does he know how to choke a kid anyway, if he's just a toddler??
My dh would have flipped out on the kid.
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I'd be really pissed at the kid's mom. And no, 2 handed choking at 18 months is not typical in my experience (and my kid is on the rougher side.) I'd assume that he learned it from a sibling or child care.
Yikes. I fricking hate confrontation, but even I would've yelled like that. And then yelled at the kid's mom. eek.
I probably would have had the exact same reaction.
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I haven't yelled at other kids, but I have used my scary stern voice before. One time an older kid was kind of threatening ODS and I said something like "you will NOT touch him. Leave him alone. NOW". He got scared and ran off. If you're a stranger, you usually don't need to raise your voice to be effective with other kids but I am sure your DH was reacting reflexively too.