Shocking talk....Warning...uncensored!

"What the fuck is wrong with you…you little shithead

shut the fuck up or I'm going to fuck you up so hard

you little asshole shithead...what the fuck is your problem...you little pussy...

FUCKING STOP IT...or I seriously am going to beat the shit out of you when we get home

you're such an asshole...I can't stand you...get the fuck over here and shut the hell up!

I should beat your face right here...maybe then you'll shut the fuck up"

This went on....in a tone and voice and loud enough to be heard across the store

Slaps...and crying...lots of crying and whining...and throwing stuff.

I happened to be one isle over...my heart bleeding all over the tile floor.

I rounded the corner...little boy was 7 years old...tops...there was another 2nd woman and an older boy too

Just as suddenly as she had screamed, she puts this sweet voice on and asks him

"Hey...you like this...don't you think it would be fun to paint?" 

Well, apparently he didn't have a satisfactory response...

“NO you damn asshole…don’t you start up again…you’re such a pussy…seriously..you need to quit acting like a girl...you need to fucking MAN-UP.”

It made no difference that I was there.  She kept on saying the same words.   

I turned and said something but not loudly enough to hear...I said please stop…I said please don’t talk to him like that.   

But nothing loud or strong came out of me...I guess I was the one that needed to man-up

I walked…staring at the shelves blankly…my eyes all watered down..and my heart throbbing.

I really wanted to do something…mad at the mom and mad at myself…

every minute more that passed was another minute less that I could react.

I always thought that I would act differently…especially when there’s a child involved.  
Last year something similar happened at a store.   

I was texting Holly…in shock… "I could always get their license plate and make a call”, she said.  

I’ll do that next time….but apparently I couldn’t.

What kept me from getting involved?  I’m a good person…I think.   

I have fought for people…stood up…and spoken up.   

Why couldn’t I do it this time?  Cause it wasn’t my child?

And then it hit me.  

Putting a call in...to DYFUS or the police...is a HUGE decision…it could be a super spiral. 

Lives will change forever… Sometimes it ends in taking the kids away.  

I have to be pretty damn sure before I make that call.   

And as a stranger is it really my place?

As a therapist, though, I’ll have the ethical responsibility to.   

Maybe that will make it easier…or maybe that will make the choice harder.

I walked away…but I’m sitting here wondering if I did the right thing.    

If 10 minutes of that talk had this effect on me...the kids have a lifetime of it

Wondering what they're going through right now…this second.

I could NEVER let the word asshole or even brat come out of my mouth to Madeleine

and still...I'm thinking...double thinking...triple checking...how I do talk to her.