Parent poll: whats the worst thing you've ever seen a parent do?

I saw a lady texting while she was driving, and her little kid was in a carseat in the back. It was on a highway too, so everyone was going really fast. Obviously putting her child in danger. I hate when people text and drive anyway, but it's even worse when you have your kids in the car with you!

And of course the parents who scream and and hit their child in public. I'm not talking about spanking, because spanking is a controlled swat or two on the bottom, and should not be done out of anger. But I'm talking about the parents who grab their kid in a fit of anger and just start smacking the crap out of them while yelling and screaming. I'm not a violent person, but gosh, I'd love to punch those parents in the face. How low do you have to be to take your anger out on and bully a small child?

I also saw a lady once who kept repeatedly spanking her toddler. She wasn't doing it violently or screaming at her, but it was still ridiculous, because basically, the mom just wanted to have a good time with her friends (this was at a restaurant and the lady was with some friends and dragged her kid along) and expected the little girl to behave like a mini adult so that she could do so. The girl looked barely two years old, but the mom just plopped her in a chair and didn't give her anything to do, and completely ignored her. She was way more interested in chit-chatting with her friends and literally had her back turned to her daughter the entire time, except for the few times she would notice that the daughter, who was obviously bored, was getting up out of her seat, so she'd quickly smack her and then turn back around and continue talking and laughing with her friends. And the girl just kept getting up anyway no matter how many times the mom smacked her. She could have at least actually paid attention to her kid and kept her occupied, or given her something to do like crayons or a toy. Or even better, just left her home with a babysitter!

And one time at McDonald's, I saw this psycho lady there with her son, who looked about 5 or 6. And for literally no reason, the lady suddenly grabbed her son by the shoulders and started screaming in his face at the top of her lungs. Really, they had just been standing there by the counter waiting for their food, so I didn't even see the kid do anything. And the poor kid looked terrified and had tears streaming down his face, but he didn't move or say a word, like he was so afraid to. I'm sure the mom was like that all the time.

And Cheyenne, next time, DO NOT listen to your mother. She is obviously as cruel and heartless as the parents of that baby if she would just ignore such horrible abuse of a child. I'm all for respecting your parents in most cases, but if I saw a baby being treated like that I'd be whipping out my phone and calling the police whether my mom liked it or not.

I work in a restaurant, and I see such bad parents on both ends of the spectrum! On one hand, some just refuse to discipline their children at all and let them act horrible in public. I remember these people who let their kid scream at the top of his lungs for about 30 minutes straight; they did nothing about it and didn't take him out. And the child's scream was so loud and shrill. Ugh. Then there was this group (from a church I think) of about 15 people, with several adults and children. None of the parents did anything to stop their children from literally running through the entire restaurant. They were being such a disturbance to other customers but the parents didn't care at all.

On the other hand though, some parents are just jerks to their kids and overreact to everything, or expect the kid to stay out of their hair and act like a mini adult. I saw this dad grab his kid's hand and smack it about eight times in a row just because the kid touched a water bottle that was at the counter. And one time a couple with a little girl came in, and while they were standing at the counter ordering, the girl was kind of just dancing and twirling around a little bit. She really wasn't being obnoxious, because she was really just quietly amusing herself, she wasn't screaming or running around. But her dad got all angry with her and snapped "do you want a spanking?"

This incident just happened last week and I am still enraged about it. I walk my son to school every morning and this one morning I am taking the same old route and of course being a smaller town people tend to know each other but being fairly new to this smaller town I don't know everyone yet but right around the corner from the school lives this family. They have a mini van and 3 small young children and the door to the back of the mini van was open and there strapped into their cars seats were the two youngest one who is 2 and a half and the other who is just barely 1. They were in the van alone with the door wide open yelling daddy daddy and I could see the apartment door open so I figured okay he forgot something and ran upstairs and continued on my way to drop my son off. It took a few minutes to get my son settled at school as he has special needs. But on the way home I usually go a different way but went the way I came cause I was going over to a friend's place for coffee and I had been in the school for at least 10 minutes and there were those same two little girls sitting there in the van yelling over and over an over again for their daddy. I went to my friends place who lived two doors down and she was outside and I was asking her where he was and she said he had ran back inside to get something and had never come back down so we stayed outside just to make sure these girls were safe in the van and weren't going to be abducted by anyone walking down the street. But I can assure you the proper people such as Child and Family Services were notified I had never seen such disgusting behavior in my life and he was up and down and in and out of that house for 40 minutes before finally getting in the van and driving away with his daughters in tow!

I saw a woman smack her little girl in the face (The child may have been five or six) and then pull her hair. Right in the middle of the store! I don't usually butt in, but I did that time! The police were called and the crazy mother was taken to jail.

My neighbor's young daughter came to the door with a bloody nose. Her mother handed her a kleenex and then locked the door so she couldn't come in and mess up the house with her blood.

A friend used to put her infant daughter in the crib on the bare plastic mattress because she was too lazy to wash the sheets.

Another friend used to lock her baby in the car in the carseat and go into a coffee shop for breakfast.

well those things on the tv about hidden cameras finding parents and nannys/sitters doing horrible things to children makes me incredibly sick

i guess it was seeing my own parents (especially my mom) not do anything after i told her i was being sexually abused by a relative and still allowing me to be alone with this relative.

but what doesnt kill us makes us stronger

I know pregnant that smoked cigs,smoked pot.

I know a mom that lost her kids can't get them back because she chose her bf instead a fellon.

I know a mom that would dilute her babys formula to "save money"

My aunt would leave her kids(3) at home with no food and her and her bf would spend their money at resturants and a casinos.

My mother inlaw got her utilities and rental house in hubbys name and never paid anything and now his credit is ruined.

I saw a mother smack her kid and drag them away once when I was at the DMV. the kid was running around (note to mom: if you keep an eye on your kid in the first place, you won't have to smack them) and yelling at people. the mom was just sitting there talking with a friend and then realized her kid wasn't near her, so she ran over to him from across the room, smacked him in the head, and dragged him by his coat collar towards her seat and yelled at him to behave...it was ridiculous.

first off i am not a parent myself, i am a 14 year old girl. i was at wal mart with my mother getting junk to eat and i saw the most hilariously red neck goth couple that couldn't have been more dirty looking and they were around 16 or 17 , i chuckled to myself lol. anyways as my mother was getting groceries i see the one man goth dude walk up to the cart with a very young maybe 1 and half year old baby girl, she is in the seat and starts crying, he smacks twice across the face without saying one word, of course this only makes her cry more, he then puts her HEAD under his armpit and twist her head around and she screams bloody murder, everyone there stops for a moment and then keeps looking at their groceries... my mother leaves that part of the store but i stay to watch what happens next and i kinda hid behind the veggie stand, once the place is claered out but them they start hitting her again because she is crying.... the mother of the child grabs a bag of lunch meat and THROWS it at her face slapping her so loud it almost hurt my ears, i am shaking with anger and i wanted so badly to walk up and punch that woman across the face, instead i tell my mother what happened and asked if i could go to the manager and proceed to call the police because that babies lip was bleeding dude! my mother tells me not to make a seen and to turn the other cheek. i was very pissed. that baby had bruises all over her, under her eye was bruised a little purple and black and no one else thought that maybe they should step in, i wanted to trust me but i could only do what my mother said.

ive seen a lot of crappy parents, but one incident in particular comes to mind.....one year when i was a volunteer handing out gifts for our local angel tree for christmas, one of the mothers came in to pick up gifts for their family, she had a little girl with her maybe 3 years old. she had on nothing but a short sleeved shirt, pants that were too short for her, and no socks or shoes, ok i can understand this is an organization for the poorer people in the county, but this mother was wearing nike shoes, levi jeans, and a nice heavy coat. she set the little girl on the bare concrete outside the door while she came in, we were handing out the stuff starting right inside the door, we were kind of cramped for space until we got a lot of it given out... it was cold and snowy outside...i just wanted to grab the little girl up and bring her home and take care of her, i could only imagine how shes treated at home.

also, while im thinking of it...i was in wal mart a year or so ago...there was this little tiny baby, about a year old, his mom was beside me at the deli waiting to get some lunch meat, she wasnt paying a bit more attention then anything, the baby gets his foot under him and is trying to stand up, but too wobbly to actually get up, he pitched forward and i CAUGHT him as he was about to fall out of the buggy....instead of grabbing her son and making sure he was ok and being glad he was she gives me one of those "if looks could kill" looks and sticks him right back in the buggy,,,still doesnt strap him in and pushes her buggy on along to shop elsewhere...wth?? sure, i might be a little upset if i turned around and a stranger had a hold of my child, but mine would be strapped in the seat and being watched, what was i supposed to do? let him fall and crack his skull?? i wanted to choke her dumbass.