Ground a 4 year old... what 4yr old goes out by themselves anyway!! punishment is not what the child needs... she needs a better parent.

There is something called playing outside, which a lot of four year olds do.

There are normal people who enjoy the sport. I hate football, but I don't try to force my views on others. I have let my friends use my big screen to watch games. They don't scream, they cheer, and there is no fighting about "my team is better" and no injuries. So I don't see how people can get to the point of full out shouting, screaming, violence, even the raids. People take sports far too seriously sometimes. In this case, they aren't even paying attention to where their kid is and how they feel. I was scared of certain shows and my parents would either go to someone else's house to watch them or they would video tape it and watch when I was not around. I just don't know how you can not realize your kid is terrified of something. Anyways, no problem with enjoying the sport. It is just how people seem to go mental about the game that is the problem.

I believe OP is talking about soccer not American football.

Probably not soccer or American football. Most likely Australian rules football or Rugby.

It doesn't matter, it still scares her... She's four. See what I mean? Put yourself in her shoes.

They are unintentionally startling her, they're not purposely scaring her.. Little kids get scared over lots of little things, doesn't make them bad people or mean they don't care about her.

I think it does when they care more about getting the lock key than not scaring her or talking to her about it. That's the point I was making.

#51 No, I don't see what you mean. The kid probably sings along terribly with every Disney Princess, thinking she has a beautiful voice. So should the parents now take away all films because they don't want to be tormented by her singing the same songs over and over again? Show some tolerance.

Do the parents get scared that people 4 times her size are screaming and without knowing why? No. Have some empathy for your children, please. I love how you justify it by saying "BUT SHE DOES IT TOO"...They're adults, she's not and the manner of which it is done and effects the other party is completely different.

Ah, now I understand #70. Because she's a kid, she can do anything she wants, right? Because it's not the responsibility of a parent to teach his children to be tolerant towards the interests of other people. If she's scared, they should explain to her it's a game. She shouldn't put up rules.

I completely with the last two statements. But that obviously wasn't happening so the kid did that. The fault is of the parents.

all this kid knows is that mommy and daddy scream and yell ( and lets face it provably swear) when they're mad or upset. watching football makes them yell and swear, therefore, football makes them mad or upset. its not perfect logic but this is a kid after all. Everyone assumes that the parents just cheer, but its possible they yell and swear angrily too. even if its not at her, hearing an adult be angry is scary. I get why she did it. Also, her singing and enjoying kids shows is good for her development, swearing at football is not. As adults we need to make allowances and suck it up because we aren't children. If a child knocks over a bowl or something and ddoesn't clean it up, its because they're little kids. if a teenager does that you yell at them for being lazy ***** who should know better than to leave a mess. Kids are not equal to adults and if you think taking away kids shows from her because you xcant watch your stupid sports game is equal, you need to grow the **** up.

If she's smart enough to lock the specifically football channel then she must know what's going on. OP has also obviously spoken to her about it if they know why she did it, so I assume that they have explained it to her why they were yelling in the first place.

As a young child, I could read well above my grade level. I was able to properly read from the Bible, Pride and Prejudice, and the dictionary. I was told I had a reading level of a 10th grader when I was in 2nd Grade. However, comprehending the material inside the books was completely different. I could repeat the words, I could pronounce them correctly, but when I read entries about death, sexuality, and gender--I did not understand it and would not for many years. My aunt was raped and I came across the letter she wrote to my mother, explaining it, and I didn't grasp what any of it meant until I was eleven and came across the box of letters again. Even then, it was not until I was more mature that the weight of the incident really came to light and I could empathize with her. So the daughter in this case, being four, would be able to understand the mechanics of locking the TV, preventing the screaming, and thus being safe. She would not be able to understand that other people have emotions that are not her own. The daughter is in what child psychologist Piaget referred to as the preoperational stage, which is between the ages of 2 and 7. While they can engage in semiotic function, symbolic play, animism (toys have feelings and are alive to them), mentally represent objects and events, they cannot understand the emotional context of others. If the child is hungry, that is all that matters. The child is egocentric, and will be for many more years. Egocentrism in this case means simply that the child will be unable to understand the point of view of others. She will not understand that her parents enjoy football, she will think her desire to get rid of it is what everyone wants. She will not understand the interests and perspective of others, until later in life. This is natural and one of the big reasons why the parents have to be the one to set discipline and rules for the kid. The parents can understand their interests are not the same as others. They can understand that their shouting might scare the child. They can amend their behavior to fix that. However, the child cannot. That is why they need to make the changes and help their daughter understand about sports, others, and not to punish her for every little infraction because developing dialogue and understanding is their job. They chose to have the children.

vencku: It all about being a good parent. A good parent is tolerating the singing(and sometimes join in) and if you have a headache or if your tired you can simply ask the child not to do that tonight. Likely the child will not be singing to every song every night.

130 when comments are that long, I skip them and assume you're smart.

Yeah cause her screaming makes them afraid and they never screamed when they were toddlers. Adults aren't equal to children, people need to stop going for strict equality and go for equity, which is equality based on the given circumstances and the aggrivating and mitigating factors.

you sound like a lawyer

They need to be fair. The actual definition of fair is that everyone get what they need, not equal treatment. To be fair to a diabetic, you will give them medication and food that will help with their disease. You would not give that same diet to a healthier person, but you would give them what they need to remain healthy. That is what fair means. Fair in this case is to stop screaming during football and to help the kid understand what is going on.