BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids The obnoxious child

sometimes the parents can be much worse than the children, I agree

Do what your parents did, or what you believe to be correct in the situation.

If the parents are offended, so much the better. They will try to get their precious brood away from the crazy lady pronto!

I have a story that still makes me incredibly angry till this day. A few months ago me and my DH were living at his parents temporarily. One of his sister's has 4 kids. Her daughter (5 yrs old) is the brattiest kid I have seen in a long time. Well when they visit (which is every weekend) the little girl likes to follow me around which is extremely annoying. I try to be nice but sometimes ignore her. We had a hamster in our room which was like my baby-I played with him everyday (i'm an animal lover). anyways one weekend I was going to visit my sis for a couple days and while I was gone my DH said the hamster got loose and he didn't know who did it-but he knew someone had to have opened to cage in order for the hamster to get out. He asked all his nieces and nephews and they said they never went in our room. Well the little bratty girl told one her cousins that she let the hamster out. My DH said not to worry because they found the hamster and everything was okay. (I was furious that she had actually gone in our room--knowing she WASN'T allowed in there then flat out LIED about it.) So I come home the next day and pick up the hamster and notice his leg is broken. Now i'm really MAD. I call the vet and he says he should be fine as long as the leg doesnt go black and blue. So I wait a couple days and notice he's really bloated and can't go to the bathroom. He's squealing in agony and sadly I had to have him put to sleep. I was really upset he had to leave in pain, and I cried for a long time. (yes I'm sensitive but he was my baby!) Okay so now that the hamster is gone I was ready to throw the girl down the stairs. My DH is extremely angry and expresses to his mom that he needs to punish the girl (her granddaughter). My mom-in-law says that she didn't know what she was doing because she was too young, the hamster probably broke his leg when they were looking for it (ya right!! I'm sure the girl kicked it) If she had never gone into our room in the first place, the hamster would still be alive. So I never got an apology from the the girl's mom or anything. to this day I don't look at her, talk to her...zip. anyways that was my biggest i-never-wanna-have-kids story.

Rebekah, I am so sorry about your hamster. I completely understand your anger and grief; I also go into uber-protective mode about my bunnies. I don't blame you one bit for cutting that niece off - heck, I'd stop speaking to the SIL too. That girl owes you an apology - a five year old child knows better than to go into someplace she's not supposed to, do something she's not allowed to do, and that lying about it is wrong. You had every right to hold her responsible for her actions. She clearly should have been punished. UGH!

Rebekah, I am so so sorry. That is horrible. I think your feelings are completely justified. I would be devastated and absolutely furious too.

edited to add: not just "I would be", but I AM really upset at her too!!

Frieda's post expressed my views perfectly. I felt sad and angry reading your post and can only imagine how you must have felt - your reaction is completely understandable.

I'm so sorry that happened! That no one sat that girl down and told her she caused a death is unconscionable.

I'm so sorry to hear about your hamster - that is so upsetting...
Kids need to understand their behaviour equals consequences...
You do kids no favours to allow them to get away with unacceptable behaviour - kids need guidance and boundaries. In our adult lives everything we do equals consequences...if you don't teach kids and hold them accountable, they're hardly prepared for the world.
My nephew was made to understand VERY early that our cats were not to be chased and hassled - I explained HE wouldn't like to be hassled and frightened so, we showed him how to befriend our cats - "let them come to you"...now, when he walks in the door, the cats run to him...
He has a deep love and respect for animals...a wonderful quality that combines kindness and responsibility and IMO makes you a better/nicer person.

This is horrible. I get so angry when parents either let their kids "abuse" animals, by letting them carry them by the neck or kick and rough house with them. I sware those "damn people" wear freaking blinders on when they have kids.

I am so sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how horrible that was for you.

A five-year old should be old enough to understand the concept of not hurting another living being. If nobody told her what happened because of what she did, she is probably totally clueless about it now. It hurt me (for you) to read your story.
I had my nephews visit a few years ago and they hassled the cat to such a point that he actually peed under the kitchen table from all the stress (which is something he never did before). It's hard for kids to understand that there are some animals that you cannot just call and they come to you. Dogs will do that, but with other animals you have to have "quiet patience" and that's not easy for kids. It's up to the adults in their lives to teach them that.