I was at the doctor's office yesterday. It's an old people's doctor, so there were no children there. A woman walked in with an 11-month-old. She had a young man with her and he was holding the child. The child was fussy. The woman kept telling the child to shut up. She said, "You see, this is why I can't keep children." She told the child she was getting on her "last nerve."
Then, to try to satisfy the child, she poured her diet coke into a baby bottle and gave it to the child. "Ah, shut up!" she kept saying. Her phone would ring and she would curse and say things like, "Now why're they calling me? F***"
I sat there thinking that the poor child didn't have a chance in the world. I wondered if I should do anything and what I could possibly do.
We had to wait for over an hour for our doctors. She was sitting right next to me, and when the young man left for a while, she started talking to me. The baby was her youngest daughter's child. She had prayed for the lord to give her baby a baby. The child was born 4 months premature and had a few handicaps but she was doing really well, the woman said.
She said the child was rotten because the mother and aunt spoiled her. She said that she couldn't put her in a daycare because they'd beat her, she was so bad. There was pride in her voice as she spoke about the child. She laughed and told me to look at the baby's teeth. She had four teeth and her grandmother thought that was the funniest thing.
The grandmother was just coming out of treatment for breast cancer. She was bald and weak, but she was keeping this active 11 month old because she wanted to protect the child from daycare. She continued telling the child to shut up and that she was bad. She continued giving the child diet coke to drink, but she obviously loved that child.
Would you call that abuse?
Then, to try to satisfy the child, she poured her diet coke into a baby bottle and gave it to the child. "Ah, shut up!" she kept saying. Her phone would ring and she would curse and say things like, "Now why're they calling me? F***"
I sat there thinking that the poor child didn't have a chance in the world. I wondered if I should do anything and what I could possibly do.
We had to wait for over an hour for our doctors. She was sitting right next to me, and when the young man left for a while, she started talking to me. The baby was her youngest daughter's child. She had prayed for the lord to give her baby a baby. The child was born 4 months premature and had a few handicaps but she was doing really well, the woman said.
She said the child was rotten because the mother and aunt spoiled her. She said that she couldn't put her in a daycare because they'd beat her, she was so bad. There was pride in her voice as she spoke about the child. She laughed and told me to look at the baby's teeth. She had four teeth and her grandmother thought that was the funniest thing.
The grandmother was just coming out of treatment for breast cancer. She was bald and weak, but she was keeping this active 11 month old because she wanted to protect the child from daycare. She continued telling the child to shut up and that she was bad. She continued giving the child diet coke to drink, but she obviously loved that child.
Would you call that abuse?