WWYD...

[rugbywife]

There is a thread going on one of my Mommy FB groups.  Poster saw a woman at walmart hit her kid twice as they were leaving/getting in the car...she posted saying it made her feel sick, that she took a photo of the car/license plate but wasn't sure if/what she should do...asked what others would do.

A ton of people posted MYOB. A bunch said report it...none of this surprised me. But a bunch of people posted about how there is a fine line between spanking and abuse...thing is, (here at least), spanking has to be on the bum and the posted was fairly clear that it wasn't on the butt and that it was a full 'arm raised, whack' (x2) thing.  

So...WWYD?

Comments that were brought up: What if your call to the non-emergent line saved a kid from a life of abuse? What if your call to the non-emergent line ruined a parent's life on a 'bad day'? What constitutes abuse? Is it ever ok to hit?

[Deleted]

So she smacked her on the arm or slapped her across the face? Was there any more context? I'd probably call if it really was unsettling to me like you described but I need more details.

[rugbywife]

This is what the poster wrote:

She defini.tely slapped/hit her twice. Saw her open the door, raise her hand and come down, raise again and come down again followed by her slamming the door. She had been filling her trunk/unload.ing her cart, left and opened the child's door, hit her twice, shut-slammed the door then proceed.ed to finish unloading her cart.

[rugbywife]

I don't think there was anything posted about age.

[jorja]

What was the kid doing? If the kid was having a tantrum or something, I might say something like "do you need some help?" to give her a chance to take a minute to get her shit together and realize people were aware of what was going on.

[heygrey]

I'd have to see it myself to know which way I'd go.

I'm inclined to say that I'd call though. I am against even spanking on the bum myself, but I realize it's a grey area for some people. The fact that it was not on the bum... Maybe the mom was just caught on a bad day, but hopefully it would be a wake up call to get her anger and reactions in check.

[rugbywife]

Jun 22, 2015 20:54:46 GMT -5 jorja said:

What was the kid doing? If the kid was having a tantrum or something, I might say something like "do you need some help?" to give her a chance to take a minute to get her shit together and realize people were aware of what was going on.

A bunch of people posted that offering to help is a good way to approach it. I never would have thought of that!

[badgergrl]

In my state corporal punishment is protected by statue. so unless I saw a parent inflicting bodily harm on a child the police are not going to respond.

[mlt]

I'm a big believer in letting the professionals do their jobs. If this observer felt like it was worthy of reporting, she should do so. She should trust her gut. If I saw something like that myself I would probably report because otherwise I couldn't sleep at night, wondering if that kid needed an advocate. If the mom was just having a bad day, hopefully the experience of being checked on will motivate her to get some help or evaluate herself.