Bad children beware

Children are among my least favorite people. Actually, let me rephrase. BAD children are among my least favorite people. Too often I find myself surrounded by them. Many parents don't seem to think raising well-mannered children is a priority. Instead they let them run around like little heathens. Civilized society should not be forced to deal with their spawns of Satan. Perhaps that's why I was so sympathetic to the Dollar General employee who dispensed some old fashion discipline to a BAD child.

Fear the belt!

A store clerk took off her belt and beat an 8-year-old boy who was running around the store unsupervised according to an article in The Daily Mail. It seems the beating was a result of him throwing a cookie at her after she confronted him about his running and allegedly called him a demon (if the shoe fits). The article goes on to say she beat him 26 times. Unfortunately the clerk was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and cruelty to children, and she could serve a 20-year sentence if convicted.

Where is the justice in this? We should all join together to fight for the employee's right to spank bad children. She is the victim here for having to put up with a cookie-throwing child in the first place. I'm kidding. It was a bit too much to hit the child that many times. I've been spanked by a belt before, and it hurts, but usually after five swats my mother was done. I don't care to imagine what 26 times must have felt like.

But I do wonder how bad this child must have been to make her snap enough to beat him. And where were his parents in the first place? Growing up I knew a woman at church who used to say she had to sit on her hands when around bad children. Now I understand what she means. Often times I have to sit on mine to keep from snatching up someone's child. Just the other week I had to grip a basket in Walmart as these two children destroyed the store's Valentine's Day bear display. Their father didn't say one blessed word, and I did my best to keep quiet. Until IT happened. A bear hit me. Between clenched teeth, I let the boys know they were going to be an endangered species if one more bear flew in that store. Thankfully they moved away from me in a flash.

So far my encounters with bad children have only resulted in verbal reprimands. I think it's safe to say that sitting on my hands will keep me from causing any bodily harm. But I can't speak for everyone else. Parents of bad children everywhere should let this story be a warning. Your kids might act a fool with you and not have to suffer any consequences. But beware if you're in Dollar General.