Saturday, January 14, 2006

Weekend Blog # 24 - MOMZILLA

The Weekend Blog is off the topics of business development, marketing, networking, sales, PR and other related business themes. It is my chance to pontificate on any subject or to just tell a story.

"Momzilla"

Today I ventured out into the beautiful, unseasonably warm weather with my youngest daughter, and one of her friends. They are both "three and a half" (do not forget the half...it is VERY important. I in fact have taken to saying I am "thirty-nine and a half").

The day was great, not a cloud in the sky, and so we went to the park. Yes, they had a blast. They went on the swings, the slides, and they climbed the big monkey bars (are they still called "monkey bars"?). They played very well together and it was a delightful way for all of us to spend the afternoon.

Then it happened. A random parent in the park turned into "MOMZILLA". While it did not directly impact our fun, it was much like passing a car accident..... I had to watch.

First, the woman had three kids and she and her husband must have been at the park to enjoy a family outing. But how any of them enjoyed themselves is beyond me.

Her youngest daughter, not much more than a year old, slipped and fell. Now, one would think if she got to the third kid, she would have seen a kid fall before. However, she was overly freaked out (there was no blood and all limbs remained attached)..... and then she also began to brow-beat her husband about his not being able to prevent the fall. She was yelling at this poor guy, using words like "useless" to describe his parenting skills.

YIKES. The kid just slipped. She was still breathing. But the guy just seemed to absorb her sharp words, which made it obvious that he had heard them before. Maybe quite often.

Next, my daughter and her friend were taking the pea gravel and stacking it in the slide, then taking turns sliding into it. While I am sure that touching the small rocks is some huge "park mom no-no", the girls were having a blast. The older daughter in this family, who seemed to be the same age as my kid, wanted to join in. Momzilla immediately pulled her away and screamed at her (very sternly) that she could NEVER play with the rocks, adding "just because other parents allow their children to play with the rocks, does not mean you can do it". OUCH.

She went on to tell her kid that throwing rocks would hurt someone's eye. NOBODY was throwing rocks, in fact, we had already discussed that the girls had to move away before the other one went down the slide..... to make sure they were careful. Not a single kid in this park lost and eyeball.

Finally her middle kid went wandering off, and she chased him screaming wildly, as if he was about to meander onto the freeway. She was ballistic on the poor kid. So much for his growing up with any curiosity about the world. Momzilla will make sure he never explores anything.

I just kept watching this woman interact with her husband and children in amazement. I felt so sorry for the dad. More than once she belittled him in front of everyone.

Just an observation with commentary.

Of course if this woman has her own blog, her new post would be about the horrible dad in the park who let his kid and her friend play with the rocks. It's all perception.

Have A Great Weekend.

Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com
thom@thomsinger.com

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