DgtizeD

On my train ride to work today, I witnessed a mother bringing one of her two children to tears by continuing to tie little plastic beret’s into the little girl’s hair. The little girl couldn’t have been older then two and a half. Yet she was shrieking, crying and pounding on her mother’s legs as her mother kept adding berets to the small amount of hair on her head. The tears kept welling up in her eye’s and the mother would barely shush her, but kept reaching for more little plastic flowers to twist into her hair.

Lady – your child is not a doll. Your child is a person, with wants, needs and desires. Not an object to be dressed up and manipulated like the Barbie doll you played with when you were a child. When you child is older, and you wonder where your sweet little baby went, know this, as much as you enjoyed that period, that little girl felt defenseless and powerless. When she can defend herself she will. That little girl you treated like a doll will be lost, and she will have reason to distrust you.

Further back in the train two woman watched on with fascinated disapproval. We exchanged eye contact during one of more noticeable shrieks from the little girl, and acknowledged our shared distaste for what was happening. We exited at the same station and I commented that the mother should not treat her child like a doll.

I regret not reminding the mother.