"My 7 year old daughter was completely distraught over being called ugly, but who cares because I was called pretty!" Seriously? I get the whole silver lining side of life, but there isn't much silver lining when your child's self-esteem was crushed by a couple of strangers, especially adults.

Yes.. THAT is what should be focused on in this story ...

Not true at all! I have seen some truly unfortunate looking children! A woman I used to work with, her daughter honest to goodness looks like a pink Shrek... That said, there's nothing wrong with being average looking or not ~beautiful/gorgeous~. There's a reason it's called average. More people are average or "ugly" looking than they are "beautiful" (and I use ugly/beautiful in terms of societal views, not the golden ratio version), and that doesn't stop them from doing everything that supposedly beautiful people do. Being a socially acceptable version of pretty doesn't make you smart, reliable, competent, good-hearted, hard working, or any of the other things that are better to have and be good at than looks that will fade.

In their defense, they probably didn't think OP or her daughter could hear them. Though this should be a good reminder that when you're insulting people, if you don't want to deal with backlash, wait until they're gone, or make sure you keep your voice level in check. I'd also like anyone to say with a straight face that they've NEVER seen someone or something and said something rude/something that you wouldn't march up to their face and say. Human nature seems to be on a whole, very judgmental, and just needs to learn what's appropriate to keep inside your head, or at a volume that doesn't carry to the person/thing you're talking about.

Very true, but adult women speaking about a child in such a way?

*shrug* I've called as many kids ugly as I have adults. 99% of the time it's in my head, because I KNOW it's mean. Like I said, keep the thoughts to yourself or expect to deal with the backlash. There's nothing inherently wrong in not finding someone attractive, and these women were not likely going up to the kid, kneeling down, and saying, "How are you so ugly when your mom is so pretty?" which is just cruel. I'm not advocating needless cruelty, just pointing out that eventually someone's likely to say something about you that you don't like (or agree with) just as much as you're likely to think or say something about someone else that they might not like or agree with.