Judge less, help more

Last week when I was in the supermarket shopping there was a huge racket in one of the isles. I couldn’t see what was happening but it went on for quite a while.

While I was at the checkout, I noticed a mother literally sitting on her son trying to calm him down. They were still there when I was done and as I approached I could hear the mother asking her son if he was calm now. As I reached her, I asked if there was any way I could help her. She calmly said, “No thank you. He’s just having a tantrum.”

Now I know many people in that supermarket were judging this poor lady, thinking that her son was unruly or that she hadn’t disciplined him enough to know how to behave in public. Having a nephew with Autism, I knew this could very well be a meltdown from being overwhelmed that this child could not help. I told the mother that she’s doing a good job and to take care and kept walking. She thanked me and that was that.

The point is that many of us have been in embarrassing situations where we feel like we’re failing as parents. I hope that reading this, it might make people who may have judged previously, take a moment to consider why a child is misbehaving and offer the parents some support.

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