As we were leaving an event in an upscale shopping complex, my three-year-old decided to let loose the most epic tantrum ever, insisting on wanting to stay when we truly needed to go.Â
They were fighting me, using every ounce of their strength to pull away from my firm grasp in this very busy parking lot, so in return I was using all my might to keep them close to me, out of harm's way.Â
Now, at that moment I was quite distracted, trying to tune out my child's loud screams/wails/protests while searching row after row for my car, a bit of a stressful situation, so I wasn't paying attention to onlookers.Â
Meanwhile, you, whoever you are, saw a stressed-out-looking mom trying to pull a very upset toddler into the car. A mom who wasn't hitting her child or yelling at them, just trying to maneuver them to the car.
About 10 minutes later, this toddler was happily playing away in our house when two cops knocked at our door. Utterly confused, I wondered if someone had hit my car. Nope, they said they'd received a notification about a grievance between an adult female and child in the parking lot of that complex we'd just visited!
Stunned, I simply said, "She had a tantrum.” The cop looked sheepish and said, "We thought so,” and left.Â
Given SPD's precious lack of resources, was it necessary to divert them to this mundane situation and cause me undue stress? Did you think a child abduction was occurring in this particular parking lot in broad daylight on a very busy weekend, when it takes about 10 minutes to get out of said parking lot? Did you think I was somehow abusing my child by holding their hand, so they wouldn't get hit by a car? You are a witless moron. Please mind your own business!
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