Bad Parent Sightings: Welded Pacifiers and Sharpie Markers
We have a new feature here on PBB: Bad Parent Sightings! Seen an atrocious bit of parenting behavior while out on the town – say, a mom screaming at her kid, or a dad driving around with his tots unbuckled? Send us your story through the tip line along with a link to your personal blog, and we’ll give you a shout-out. Hell, we may even give out prizes at some point.
Today’s double tale comes from Cooper Munroe of Been There, who reports on two egregious behaviors. In the first case, she reported seeing a mom tape a child’s binkie (pacifier) to the child’s face. Yikes. Even better? Later, she spotted a frenzied mom in a panic at a carnival etching her kids’ names and phone numbers into their arms…with a Sharpie marker. Egads.
Congratulations, folks. You may not have killed your kids, but you’ve certainly given us object lessons in what not to do with our own children.
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August 29th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
Oh am I going to have some doozies for you!!
August 29th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
Ok, pacifier-and-tape = bad, clearly. But, aside from not showing some paranoia, what’s the big deal with the marker? I mean, I don’t intend to do that to my kids ever, but it’s not like a Darwin Moment or anything….
August 29th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
Well, if it were a water-soluble marker, I’d agree. But Sharpies are intended to be permanent…
August 29th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
Yeah, but it’s not very permanent on skin. It’s like those hand-stamps you get at museums (or bars!) — part of the *point* is you don’t want it to just wash off right away. A couple of baths, though, and it’ll be gone.
August 29th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
The point is that it’s not intended for use on skin. Hey, even Sharpie says so!
August 30th, 2005 at 8:09 am
I’ve been hiding markers from the kids for years – usually too late. I never noticed any permanent damage. I’m much more concerned about their names being displayed in public. Too much info for predators. A card tucked into a pocket would make more sense.
August 30th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Um. . .Jay, this makes me uncomfortable. It smells a little like Mao’s cultural revolution, dude. people turning each other in and reporting decontextualized acts that they observe on the street. okay, the cultural revolution minus the killings and beatings and re-education camps. But one man’s act of “atrocious parenting behavior” may just be the way another man has chosen to raise his kid. I get enough bullshit from total strangers on the street who have very strong opinions that what I’m doing is wrong, and it bugs me out that you’re asking your readers to be arbitrars of other people’s parenting in a semi-public forum.
I blogged about this very issue last week (kind of) and I feel very strongly that people should just mind their own business when it comes to the way others are raising their kids unless it involves criminal behavior or serious abuse or neglect.
I don’t have a problem with this website as a whole, because it’s always funny to laugh at celebrities and of course the really egregious stuff should be reported and discussed, but yesterday some woman gave me a really nasty lecture because I brought my 7-month old on the cable car without a car seat. Did she consider that “atrocious parenting behavior”? Clearly. Did I give a crap? No. Hopefully your readers’ idea of atrocious parenting behavior is something a little south of what this woman thinks, but ultimately asking us to judge other parents who do random, weird or seemingly “bad” stuff is something that makes me really uncomfortable.
That said, it’s your website and I have absolutely no problem with you doing whatever you want with it. Maybe I’m just really nervous about seeing myself up there.
August 30th, 2005 at 10:20 am
I see your points, Dutch, but it’s not meant to be the next Spanish Inquisition or anything. The intent is to give a lighter side to the site, so I’m not just documenting death and abuse at every turn. Hopefully, as in the case of this thread, it can generate some good parenting discussion to boot.
Here in Seattle, the local weekly rag The Stranger has a column by David Schmader called Last Days. Schamder has a regular feature of his column called the Inappropriate Public Grooming Watch (sic), where people rat out their fellow citizens whom they’ve seen touching things in public that should only be touched in the privacy of one’s own home. This idea is more along those lines, and is in no way a call to let a thousand flowers bloom.
August 30th, 2005 at 11:28 am
I agree that anyone cutting their fingernails on the subway should be arrested, photographed, and humiliated in every way possible.
But with the bad parenting amateur reporting, it’s weird. I feel like most people who read this site and your other sites are pretty open and cool, so I’m not that worried about it. But it’s just there are so many nosey, self-righteous, judgmental jerks out there who see fit to say things to parents in public that are really out of line (and none of their business). Of course you’re right, it will be a nice balance to your death and blood mayhem stories if it’s kept lighthearted and everything. I’m sorry for butting my nose in.
August 30th, 2005 at 12:57 pm
Don’t be sorry at all, Dutch. I love having you as a reader, and I appreciate you keeping me in line.
August 31st, 2005 at 4:58 am
How do you manage to juggle a baby and a car seat on a cable car? I must have missed something all the years I lived in S.F.
August 31st, 2005 at 12:43 pm
Ann- I didn’t have a carseat. That was the problem in this woman’s eyes. My baby was in my arms. It wasn’t like I was hanging off the edge swinging her into oncoming traffic. I don’t know how it would have been safer with a car seat. I think the tourists who ride the cable car think the law requires a baby to be strapped into a five-point harness in any moving vehicle.
Next time I guess I’ll just walk up Nob Hill when the wife drops the kid off with me at work and I need to meet her at Larkin and California.
August 31st, 2005 at 10:19 pm
Sorry Dutch – I was less than clear. I wondered how in the world that woman thought you could manage a car seat and a baby on a cable car. Where would you attach it? You’re right – she must have been a tourist. From what I remember of riding the Muni with my kids, a car seat wouldn’t be useful anywhere. Of course you didn’t have a car seat. Good grief.
We seem to have drifted away from sharpies and into the San Francisco transportation system. I really miss the city. That’s a long uphill walk to Larkin. Used to be the No. 1 ran up Sacramento (dying halfway up every time) but probably everything has changed since I worked in the financial district and took the Muni everywhere.
September 15th, 2005 at 4:39 pm
Jason’s a nice pick. I’ll have to read some from the other additions.
Now, about tips, hmmm. The decision to post the Pistons binky-photo seems suspect. This Michigander (*wretch*, I HATE that moniker) is lightly offended. Had we been able to focus on the game last spring and actually WIN the thing, I’d be moderately offended. :p’
September 15th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
Jim, you’re assuming I give a rat’s ass about sports.
September 19th, 2005 at 7:32 am
I went back a ways and googled this site, and didn’t see this story, so I don’t think you’ve posted it:
Parents who keep kids in cages.
This link is to the latest development, with a picture of the cage. There’s five links at the bottom that show the development of the story.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/4975043/detail.html#