Crying out Loud

The blissful mood of the hundreds or so women, men, and children happily playing and resting in the park was suddenly disrupted by a loud wail. It was coming from a girl of no more than four or five years old. Everyone was looking at her, including me, for fear that something terrible was happening to her.

I gawked at her a long time, trying to see if she was faking it. Some children are such con artists, you know; they love crying at inopportune moments just to catch everyone’s attention. Trust me; I know that for a fact.

But this kid wasn’t a fake; she was indeed crying. She was muddy and dirty, with dry leaves and flowers dangling from her hair; looks like she just had a bad fall. Beside her was her mother angrily muttering incomprehensible chides while trying to get the dirt off her.

The scene was something I saw often in that place. It happened to me before when I was her age, my mother scolding me in a public place for doing something appalling. It maybe a typical mother-daughter moment, but I don’t think it should be done in public.

Have you ever experienced being shouted at by your boss in front of your colleagues? How did you feel when he told everyone of your mess? Embarrassing, right?

The little girl may be feeling the same way. She may not only be crying for her mistake, but for humiliation as well. We all make a mistake. That’s a fact. If the mother was scolding her child to teach her a lesson or show the kid her love, I don’t think she should yell at her in public.

Why not explain to the kid why what she did was wrong instead of shouting at her? She should have just hugged her and tell her it’s okay to fall down. Comforting her instead of embarrassing her would tell the kid that it’s okay to fall and eventually she would realize that it’s best to clean up and stand up instead of cry out.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m mistaken. May be the kid did something worse than what I saw. Maybe I’m misjudging the mother. But still, I believe that teaching a child good ideals don’t have to be done through humiliation, and worse, in public.