Entitled Parents

EM hits the disabled child I babysit

This story happened a couple of summers ago. I have been babysitting a sweet girl with Angelman-Syndrom for a long time now to give her mom, who is a friend of mine, some alone time. Due to her condition she is mentally and physically handicapped and uses a wheelchair. She bites and hits herself, when she is stressed or unhappy, which is very normal behavior since she cannot express herself otherwise. She is happy and bubbly almost all of the time, laughing a lot and playing with toddler's toys. One day we went to a public pool, since she loves water and watching other children play.

EM: entitled mother, EK: entitled kid, SG: sweet girl, the girl I babysit

We were at a public pool, minding our own business and SG was having fun with me pouring water over her legs. She laughed a lot and chewed on one of her stuffed animals. A few of the other moms had made conversation and had asked questions about her, which I gladly answered and they had made silly faces at her, which she loves.

In came EM and EK. When they arrived she already glared at us for no reason. I ignored them and continued to play with SG. After a while EK, who was about 5-6 years old, came over and asked me about SG. I tried to explain it as simple as I could to her. She came close to SG and I warned her that SG sometimes likes to pull on hair, if your head is very close to her, but she does not know any better. She thinks this is fun and does not understand that it hurts other people. (You have to be very close to her though, in order for her to reach your hair. Closer than you would nromally go up to someone you do not know.) EK ignored me and moved closer with her head to look at SG's toy. Of course SG stretched out her arm and pulled on her hair, happy to play with something else. SG can have a rather tight grip, if she wants something. EK cried immediately. I tried to open SG's hand carefully so neither of the two gets hurt any further. EK was crying her eyes out and shouting for her mom, who ran towards us with fury in her eyes.

EM: "What did your child do to my daughter? Can't you discipline your moronic child?"

Me: "I'm very sorry. She does not know any better. I warned your daughter not to get to close to SG with her head."

EM: "You and your psycho child should be kicked out! I am going to call the police for assault! You are a terrible parent!"

Me: "Again, I'm very sorry. She did not mean to hurt your daughter, but..."

She then slapped SG's arm pretty hard and said: "Don't you ever hurt my daughter again!"

I was shocked and so were the other moms around me, who had witnessed everything. I tried to step in between SG and EK and simultaneously console SG, who did not understand the situation and began biting her arm. I was at a loss for words, not thinking too clearly and overwhelmed with the whole situation. I am not the confrontational type and I have never been in a situation like this before.

Me: "What are you doing? Are you crazy? Can't you see she doesn't understand? I said I was sorry..."

EM: "If you cannot discipline your child, then someone has to do it for you. Look, she is clearly dangerous. She is biting herself. That is not normal. Put her in a home or an asylum or something like that."

Me: Listen, I am just babysitting her. And you never hit a child, neither your own nor someone elses. What kind of a person does that?"

EM did not like, what I said.

EM: "Your child hurt my daughter. I have every right to defend her." She kept shouting and insulting the two of us.

EK then took SG's toy and hid behind her mother, distracting me for a second. She kept going on about my bad parenting, clearly not listening to me.

Me, turning to EK: "Please give SG her toy back. It is her favorite."

The EM just scoffed at us and told me, they would take it, because SG hurt her daughter and therefore had to give EK the toy as compensation.

At that moment a lifeguard came up to us, because one of the moms had gone to look for someone. Before he could ask anything the EM started to shout:

"You have to kick them out. Her daughter assaulted my child. She is clearly out of her mind. I want the police to be called and the two of them should be arrested. She clearly can't take care of the girl."

The mom, who had found him, interjected: "She warned EK not to get too close and she ignored the warning. SG only pulled on EK's hair and did not 'assault' your daughter. This is no reason to hit the girl."

The other moms agreed and were on my side. The lifeguard was very nice and told the EM to leave us alone and he would not call the police to arrest a disabled girl. EM did not like this and started to shout at him. He told her to either calm down or she would be asked to leave the premises. EM saw that no one was on her side, so she took her child, went back to her things and packed. One of the moms went up to her and retrieved SG's toy. EM and EK left soon after and the moms apologized for the whole ordeal, even though it was not their fault. I was still in shock after the whole situation and it took some time to really console SG.