What Would You Do?

Picture this: you're walking behind a little girl {at least 6 or 7 years old} who is following a few footsteps behind her mom through Target minding your own business. You notice that the girl bumps into a rack of skirts and one falls. She doesn't pick it up - but maybe she didn't notice. Then the next set of clothes, she knocks one down. The next rack, she pulls one down. The next, she pulls another down. She gets to the toys, plays with one for a second and then crosses back over to the baby clothes and works to pull socks off the shelf. She pulls another pair of socks down, then sees her sister and goes running to her.

Ok, so I was giving her the benefit of the doubt and was going to let it slide. Then I got mad and was going to say something to her mom. But what do you say? "Excuse me, your daughter is being a brat and a bully, please control her," or "excuse me, your daughter just pulled all these clothes down, please control her." Nothing seemed right. I felt like I was telling on the girl {who deserved it}.

As soon as I decided I was just going to let the mom know what was up she turned a corner and the girl was running off to her sister. I picked up what I passed by, but I still didn't feel right about not saying something. I didn't work up the courage in time and then didn't want to chase them through the store to tell the mom that I thought her kid was being bratty and could quite possibly need some talking to.

I wish I had done something about it, but it's over and I used it as a teaching opportunity for Eden - who also saw what was happening. I told her that if she knocks something down she needs to pick it up, but that she also should never just throw things on the ground. I told her that what was going on was not acceptable behavior and that it was very rude. Here's hoping the lesson sticks!