Mommy's Venting: Calm down yo. They're just kids!

I'm sure most parents/mothers have been in a situation where you have had to protect your children from ignorant people or comments. But, when your innocent child is crossed with experiencing this ignorance for themselves, what will you do to protect them? Sure, it may be a learning process, but how are they to handle situations that are far beyond their thinking at such a young age?

Ignorance sure does come in all different colors and religions. However, diversity is not a cause of prejudice or discrimination. People act in discriminatory and biased ways through ignorance, fear, low self-esteem and learned behaviors. These people seek validation by imagining some superiority to others based on the above and our duties as parents/mothers is to teach our children how to handle these people in certain situations. It may not have been the first time my children and I have experienced a situation similar to the above but this was the first time someone took it to the extreme. What would you do in this situation? Call the cops? Walk away? Apologize for something you didn't do? 

Here's my story:

It was a typical Saturday morning. We finished running errands and I wanted to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure. I was minding my own and after my daughter was finished with her nails they went to sit comfortably on the chairs at the front waiting for me to finish. Well, during that time, my son came up to me while I was getting a pedicure and mentioned that a little boy would not stop leaving him alone. I figured they were just kids being kids so I told him to go back to sit down. He comes back about five minutes later saying that the same little boy was picking at him and my daughter. My daughter said that he was bothering them and she rather come sit with me. They sat with me for a bit until the lady had to move me so I told them to go ahead and sit back down opposite side of where the boy was because I was almost done. Sure enough I was finished about five minutes later and I moved to another table to dry my nails.

Not even a minute later did I hear a lady yelling and cursing at the top of her lungs saying that this kid was "being a bad little fucking wet back Mexican who's momma doesn't know how to raise her child." My instincts as a mother kicked in and I stood up real quick to see who she was talking too. Little did I know, she was screaming at my son, literally in his face, yelling that he "hit her autistic son and that she could take him to court for that." I power walked so fast towards my children... As a counselor and with my personality, I grabbed my son towards me and I tried to figure out what was going on by calmly asking her to tell me what she was so upset about (even after she said what she said about my son and called us wet backs). But this lady was not having it one bit. She went on cursing and yelling pointing fingers at my son.

So, as a mother, I defended my child, stepped back (because at this point I was heated and didn't want to do anything I would regret) and told her that my son would never hit a stranger let alone another child unless that person/child initiated it first. She blew up even more and started calling us names in front of the entire nail salon. They threatened to call the cops and told her to get out but she was being extremely unreceptive. My daughter was with my son and witnessed the entire incident. Thank God she was able to tell me exactly what happened. Then when my daughter attempted to tell me what had really happened, the lady involved my daughter by calling her names. 

At this point I knew there was something wrong with this lady and my children were scared. My nails weren't dried yet so I had them walk with me back to the drying area. They have never been in a situation where a stranger threatened them or yelled and called them names. This lady kept going on even after we walked away. The lady again repeatedly tried to use her "autistic child" against us and that no one is allowed to touch an autistic child in that way because "that's abuse." She wanted to see if she could provoke us enough but I told them I'm not stooping down to her level.

After my daughter told me what really happened it astounds me. You see this lady only saw my son how she wanted to see him. What she saw was my son playing the way her son was playing with him. Apparently this little boy was looking at a girl in a bikini from a Cosmo magazine they had in the waiting area and told my daughter to smack his butt while he was bent over. My daughter refused so my son did it instead picking up for my daughter. 

Remember in the beginning when I said my son kept coming up to me because a little boy was messing with him and my daughter? Well, I looked at it as kids being kids but I could have easily became upset right there and then and I didn't. What really made me more livid, was that the lady had the nerve to tell her autistic child to "go and kick my sons bad little Mexican ass." (Mind you my son is five and her son seemed a bit older.) I again calmly asked her "who she thinks she was by cursing and yelling in a child's face with her son watching her rampage" and "what kind of mother she was for telling her own son to fight another child?" 

This was the highlight of it all... she then threatened me to go outside so she could "kick my ass" She yelled that she's "already been to jail and she will go again over some dirty wet back non-parenting ass Mexican." She was so disruptive thinking because she was who she was, it would scare me. Sure, she may have scared my son, but not me. She yelled the whole way to her car as the staff at the nail salon threatened to call the cops if she didn't leave. 

Finally after she left, everyone clapped. The nail salon had all races and they couldn't believe what happened. By the way... This lady was a black woman. To this day, it upsets me when people only think racism is towards "black" people... Well it's not. And the way she acted really embarrassed a few people of her race in the nail salon as they apologized for someone they didn't even know. And yup, it's sad to say this lady actually thought she was a good mother. I am constantly amazed at what people manage to believe... Now her son will pass on this learned behavior unless he learns o change it.

As for the photos below... we still enjoyed another normal day at the spa and after a long conversation with my children they have a better understanding about the recent situation. I reassured them that it was not their fault, I was very proud of them for being brave and that there are some people who just can't control their anger. The day ended with lots of kisses, hugs and a delicious ice-cream treat!

I am proud to say that my children have yet again witnessed their mother calmly handle a situation that could have easily ended up completely differently. I hope one day they are able to learn from this and if placed in a similar situation, they can look back and think of this day mommy was truly supermom.