Not helping

By jshsnan - This FML is from back in 2015 but it's good stuff - United States - San Francisco

Spicy
Today, while trying to calm down my four-year-old son who was having a tantrum in a store, a man walked up to me and said, "You couldn't have worn a condom?" FML
I agree, your life sucks 25 378
You deserved it 5 809

Top comments

He couldn't have kept his mouth shut? The gall of people amaze me. Have some decency; yes, the child is annoying (even to the mother!) but that's no reason to be an absolute dick face to her because your ears are bothered.

i hope you replied "i wish your parents had worn a condom too"

Comments

That's clearly none of his business. Rude much?

He couldn't have kept his mouth shut? The gall of people amaze me. Have some decency; yes, the child is annoying (even to the mother!) but that's no reason to be an absolute dick face to her because your ears are bothered.

I know, right! At least he is an adult who is much more fit for self control than a child.

shmoooopie 29

Reminds me of a story where an old man walked up to a woman and her two year old at walmart and smacked the two year old in the face because she was throwing a tantrum and yelled at the mom for not "controlling her kid". No matter how good of a parent your are your kid is going to have meltdowns in public

Haha his response is hilarious. Get back off your pedestal

People get triggered on this app too easily.

My response would be to pick up my son and say "are you yelling because he's bothering us?" then join my kid in yelling at the guy until he goes away. High Five Little Man! :)

Ironic, his father couldn't either! uff there are sure some mean people in this world. Kids are difficult too, wish you luck on any future tantrums OP. Always have a lollipop on stand by!

ThePandoricaOpen 18

Mm, that's rewarding the negative behavior though.

not if you give it after you tell them to be a good kid and if they do they get the lolli.

Glynnis62 13

Neither could his mom apparently.

I don't think his mom wearing condoms on her fingers would have done much.

They actually do make condoms for women. They're just really weird

You should have said, "Nah, your wife likes it when I don't wear one." Actually, maybe don't say that since it might get you punched...

That's not appropriate to say in front of a kid. Plus that's not any better than him

i hope you replied "i wish your parents had worn a condom too"

yes, that is the perfect response to a stickybeak

Where do some people get off? It's ridiculous. That's just a rude thing to say. Disappointing that some people say things such as this. It's not OPs fault, nor the child's. I can guarantee that man wasn't an angel himself in his younger years.

You should've told him "I did" and started crying while hugging your child and curling into a ball...

Yikes! Not gonna lie, I probably would've taken the low road and punched him. Sorry OP. :/

While what the old man said was rude, and could have been met with a remark like "at least I'M still virile"..... I am sick of the Political Correctness police that made it (it is illegal at least in Australia) to smack your kid - and I don't mean beat, i mean tap on the butt. Sometimes a smack on the bum is what is needed to stop that tantrum. When i was a kid, if someone was screaming that they wanted something, or there were "too many people on the bus", then they would have got a smack on the bum. And that would have been the end of it. Whereas today its nothing but screaming and screaming until the parents give in. So when they grow up they don't have any respect for anyone else and expect everything to be done for them.

AnyaS 19

There is an in between, you know, where parents can discipline without resorting to smacking their kid. I was never spanked in my life - in fact - I never was punished for anything because I didn't do anything wrong. It's called being raised well.

Even if your parents are June and Ward Cleaver there's no way that you have /never/ done wrong in your life, especially as a child. Maybe if your parents gave you a tap to the bum you wouldn't be so confused as to what is and isn't a punishment.

AnyaS 19

I had arguments with my sister, but we would talk them out. We weren't punished, but told to work it out amongst ourselves. We were taught to figure out how to solve our problems, than be punished and not learn anything.

404wan 19

exactly, i dont understand parents nowadays who are apparently unable to teach their toddlers that throwing a tantrum when you dont get what you want is completely unacceptable and will only result in receiving nothing at all. thats how i was taught and i mustve learned pretty fast as a child because i dont recall EVER having the nerve to embarass my parents and, more importantly, myself in front of other people. Its a CHILD these are the moments you teach them how to behave for the rest of their lives, and the threat of pain is not a good motivator.

nonsensical 26

I was spanked as a child (no belt or paddle or anything, just a slap with the hand on the butt) and I feel I turned out alright. There is no one correct way to raise children. There is no ONE answer. Whatever works for you and your children is what you should do, granted it doesn't cross any abusive boundaries of course. Personally I think this debate is pointless, you're not going to change anyone's mind about it.

If the only way you can teach your child wrong from right is hitting/smacking/spanking them then YOU are the problem and should not be a parent.

Regardless of whether or not you believe in spanking, you have to remember that every child is different. I have a friend with two kids. If one of them has a tantrum in public, stern admonishment and an occasional spank (if it's really bad) will get her to stop within a few minutes. HOWEVER his other child is the complete opposite. If you sternly tell him to stop or spank him, he will get 3 times louder and definitely won't stop, forcing you to drag him back home. However if you ignore him for a few minutes, he will stop on his own. The problem with this though, is people don't seem to get that not every kid is the same. They'll go to my friend and ask why he doesn't know how to control his children, why he doesn't just spank him, blah blah blah, while not realizing that he knows his children best and knows which methods work best for them.

Spanking is a way to show there are consequences for actions. Yes there are other ways, but like all things some work for different circumstances. You teach your child the correct way to behave and how to make good choices. When they make a bad choice or acts badly you use an appropriate punishment to show there are consequences. If the child hits someone you might spank them, but if they don't do their homework you might take away their phone. Sometimes showing a child that doing something may result in pain is a good lesson to teach. Just remember not every punishment has to be spanking though.

Would you hit your wife if she did something wrong? How about a coworker? No? Because it is illegal. We are behind the times. General you.

#77 Not saying I'm for spanking or anything, but just want to point out that your argument is kinda flawed. I mean, the relationship a man has with his wife and coworkers is completely different than with his kids. A husband is not in charge of "disciplining" his wife (like sending her to her room or taking away her money or things) because she did something he didn't like, and neither is he for his coworkers, so of course he won't be spanking them either. However he IS responsible for helping discipline and raise his kids to be functional members of society. Whether he chooses to spank them or not is up to him (and both people who have/haven't been spanked can grow up to be good or bad individuals), but that really has nothing to do with how he interacts with his coworkers/wife when they do something "wrong."

Spanking just teaches children that violence is an acceptable way to deal with issues. The ONE child in my class that has issues with hitting, kicking, etc s also the one child who is physically disciplined at home and hasn't been shown how to control his anger. Respect children enough to talk through issues and consequences, their feelings, etc. And when they're too emotional to talk, gently restrain them, remove them from the situation, give them breathing exercises, water, etc. and talk to them when they're calmer. Might be difficult at first but definitely worth it in the long run.