Is this considered child abuse?

Question

Last night I was at the mall and at the foodcourt, I noticed this girl in line for one of the restaurants with a baby who was screaming its head off. It was being so loud practically everyone in the surrounding area turned to look, but the mom of the baby was just blocking it out and texting on her phone. This went on until she ordered her food and then finally she picked her baby up and started trying to calm it down. The baby was ignored for roughly 5 minutes though. Would this be considered abuse?

Update:

Just because I'm not a parent doesn't mean I'm stupid. I mean, would it really have hurt for her to at least try to calm her baby down? Maybe its not abuse, but its not exactly good parenting either.

? · Accepted Answer

No. Sometimes you have to let your child cry it out. It might have been loud, but you should expect a lot of noise when you go to the mall.


Mind your own business.

? · Answer

Hi.   Just because your ears took some abuse from a screaming baby does not mean that the baby was abused because it was left to cry for about 5 minutes.  You don't know what was going on with the mother and her situation....maybe the baby was crying all day long and she couldn't take it anymore so she was texting her husband, family, or friend to please come and help her so she could get a break for a while.  The baby wasn't in any physical harm and was not neglected....5 minutes of ignoring the baby does not equal neglect.  Obviously you are not a parent and have never had a baby or child scream for any length of time.  All mothers are able to tune out certain things for a few minutes.  It is to keep our sanity!!  Take care!

napalm_jane · Answer

Sure it is fine, sometimes babies need to cry.  If you were a parent you would understand that.  However I don't agree with texting at all so...  And it's not neglect, just because you ignore your children sometimes does not make you neglectful.

Em · Answer

Do you have kids?  I'm thinking not.  

Letting a baby cry for 5 minutes is not child abuse.  Baby's cry.  Sometimes nothing can be done.  She was probably blocking it out in an effort to get some of her sanity back, or proving that tempter tantrums don't get rewarded.

I&#39;m 50 Tyson · Answer

NO. the baby suffered no hard except for being ignored, and since it was only 5 minutes that is no where near neglect, either.

jnjmommy · Answer

Maybe she believes in self soothing for infants. Does that make her a bad parent? nope. It just means she has a different parenting style. Personally I love knowing that I can calm my babies down.



Is it aggravating and rude to others around her? YES.

kmariee&lt;3 · Answer

No because sometimes you just have to ignore kids and let them cry so that they know they will not get eerything they want simply by crying. Since there was no physical harm done to the child it would not be abuse.

Sarah D · Answer

Babies cry, that is how they communicate. there is nothing wrong with letting your child cry sometimes, even in public.

Paul · Answer

No, the child needs to learn to self-sooth. Comforting the infant would encourage the behavior.

texas! · Answer

mind your own business and stop being so ignorant.

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Is this considered child abuse?

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