Revenge on inconsiderate neighbors.

Okay.  I'm going to probably tick off a couple of you, but some of you may actually agree with me here.

Tonight was the long-awaited Trans-Siberian Orchestra show.  Alex and I saved up for it all year long, even saved enough money to get tickets for my parents as a Christmas gift.  We got dressed up, we went out for dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed our evening.

Until I sat in my frickin' seat.

The child next to me, who seemed to be about eleven years old or so, felt obligated to continuously kick his legs to the side of his chair, knocking into my bad knee, as well as kick his legs about on the floor, hitting my good heels, scuffing them, and again aggravating my knee.

In addition to his physical abuse and unwanted, and probably unintentional, groping, he would also shake his PowerADE at random for long periods of time, thrash into the back of his seat causing the entire row on the risers to wobble, and was corrected by the adult he was with throughout the entire show.

Now, the part that may make some of you upset.

I wanted to call attention to his elder about his touchy-feely child having no respect what-so-ever for my personal space or my expensive shoes that I only bring out once a year.  I wanted to catch an usher to complain about the constant noise from the family beside me tending to this little brat.  I wanted to trade seats with my fiance who was on the end of the row, at the aisle, and undisturbed by the kid but he hasn't seen the concert as often as I and I wanted him to thoroughly enjoy the fire show.

So, instead, I waited for the kid to kick me once again.  And you know what?  I kicked him back.  Call me horrible.  Call me an abuser.  Call me the cruelest thing in the world for kicking a kids shoe!

I feel my move was justified.  The kid didn't take the hint with my constant glares, my shifting around in my seat to get as far away from him as humanly possible, and my asking him twice to keep his hands away from my arse.  But he did when I kicked him back, finally.

Is there anyone who agrees with me or do I have to sulk about in shame for the rest of the evening?

Nah.  Don't feel bad.  You kicked his shoe.  It's not like you backhanded the little brat.  (hehe)

I couldn't.  Alex held down both hands the entire evening and after finding out I kicked the kid, wrapped his leg around my ankles.

After my hours-long debate re: Megan Meiers, I will probably seem like a terrible hypocrite when I say I would've done the same thing.  :)

You, my dear, are my HERO.  It could be a dangerous thing to do that to a minor BUT I'm WITH YOU on this!  Where the hell were the parents?  I probably could not have contained my (foul) mouth.  F*$)ing moron parents and stupid kid.

I swear that they should take warning labels off of most stuff so the stupid people just cease to exist.  wow - I should not have said THAT out loud! lmao

 

 

You guys are praising her for kicking a little kid? Come on now. Kids do not take 'hints'; this is one thing that separates them from adults. Obviously if the kid was worried about upsetting you, he would not have been acting like this in the first place.

Sorry, but I think you acted immaturely. You didn't even TRY to communicate with with his guardian before becoming physical.

I guess I don't really understand why you felt you couldn't lean over the child's seat in order to speak to whoever was with him by the time you felt so frustrated.

;;edited for clarity;; 

I can't support violence against kids, but I am extremely curious as to what happened after you kicked him.

I really dont think its "violence against kids" julia. kids learn from getting a little bump now and again, or more, its not like she kicked his face in. Getting hit as a kid isnt bad. I was hit, I deserved it. thats that.

Ha, I couldn't think of a better term for it than "violence." I get what your saying, but I intend to be an advocate for children, so I can't support it. Not saying it wasn't well deserved or that it even hurt him.

Original Post by schnooder:

I really dont think its "violence against kids" julia. kids learn from getting a little bump now and again, or more, its not like she kicked his face in. Getting hit as a kid isnt bad. I was hit, I deserved it. thats that.

Hm... I don't think kids should be getting 'bumps' from strangers. 

I would have gone verbal, but I don't blame you one bit.

Younger kids are usually very surprised and behave when a stranger corrects them. You may get an ugly look from their "parent," but generally that is all you'll get. Maybe an ugly comment, but hey, why do you think their child is a nightmare? If their parents don't have manners, they certainly won't teach them to their children!

I dont really thing its anything you should worry about. You kicked him back. oh well. It happens

I think that's awesome.  Kids like that are the reason I don't want any (see my post on "does anyone else not want to have children?)  Some parents are ridiculous in their lack of discipline.  And come on, 11 years old?  That is way too old to be behaving like that.  Good for you, I say.

With the way you started off, I thought perhaps the kid had a mental disability; but then I read the part about his stopping after you kicked him back.  Thus, I think you're perfectly justified in teaching the brat a lesson.  The kid was obviously just trying to be an obnoxious little bugger.

I don't understand why you didn't talk to his parents or an usher first.  It does seem a bit like "stooping down" to his level.

My initial reaction was GOOD FOR YOU! But then I got thinking, what if it had been my kid? Not because I want to be protective and shield my child from the dangerous scary kicking woman (that was friendly sarcasm btw for those who might not of caught that) but because I would have been mortified at my child's behavior. Much to my kids horror, I LOVE to hear from people when my kids misbehave so I can take that opportunity to teach them a thing or two about common COURTESY and the art of apologising. If a glare didn't do it, then a "please stop kicking me" didn't do it, than by all means I advocate informing the guardian. If that STILL didn't do it you would have been completely justified in asking the usher to relocate the child, NOT you. It sounds like that family KNEW thier child was misbehaving and should have taken him out in thier own. I am so sorry that your evening was tarnished by a child's rude behavior...There is a REASON I don't take my kids to concerts yet!

And BTW just because a child stops does not mean they comprehend that what they were doing was wrong or that they do not have a mental disability. Their action brought a painful response. Pain, or even the shock at having a stranger deal with them adversely is a negative reinforcer, hence the action stops temporarily until the venue or situation is modified even in the slightest. Then the behavior will return. For all kids, but ESPECIALLY kids with a disability, it is a VERY ineffective methodology. End of story. Believe me, as a mommy of 4 kids, 3 which have disabilities, I am VERY acquainted with this.

Hm... I don't think kids should be getting 'bumps' from strangers. 

It takes a village.

Sounds like a stern admonishment plus belt whipping or at least a stern switching with a salt-water hickory of bare legs for the brat was in order.

What you did was wrong. You gave the brat attention for acting up. That only reinforces the behavior since it didn't bring to an end. You should have stepped up and confront the adult with the brat about the issue. If that didn't fix the problem, then getting an usher or the manager etc would have been the best thing to do.

Kicking was totally justified.

I can totally understand your reaction, but I think that it would have been more effective to directly involve his guardian.  I periodically have behavior issues with my oldest son, and I know if I was dealing with a similar situation, and the person just decided to kick him instead of speaking with me, I would be offended and felt it was way out of place.  I consider it my responibility to reinforce and/or correct my child's behavior, not strangers, so I expect the same out of other parents. 

I really do understand - if you were looking forward to the concert and had been saving up money, I'm sure the experience was beyond frustrating (and I've had similar urges myself with other bratty kids).  But I think there's a more constructive way to approach it. (Hindsight being 20/20 and all that....)

Just my .02....

I would have done the SAME thing. 

You gave him many chances to smarten up.  Along with ASKING him to stop.

It's called CONSEQUENCES.  And something that is wrong with society today is that everything is so "touchy feely"....we must "discuss" why he's kicking..."compromise" on his actions....blahblahblah.

Fact is, HE was acting up.  HE was asked to quit.  HIS Mother was sitting right there and did not take care of the situation.  HIS actions resulted in HIS consequences, and if he or the Mother did not take care of the situation?.....

Welcome to society.  Like it or not, agree with it or not, if you're disrespectful to the people around you, and they have tried to "compromise" or "solve" the situation to no avail?

You're going to get KICKED.  Kid or not.  C'est la vie.