Comments on: Overheard: how not to help with homework http://mannahattamamma.com/2010/03/overheard-how-not-to-help-with-homework/ Perpetually Ambivalent New Yorker...Now Living in Abu Dhabi, UAE Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:15:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: HCW http://mannahattamamma.com/2010/03/overheard-how-not-to-help-with-homework/comment-page-1/#comment-241 HCW Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:36:28 +0000 http://mannahattamamma.com/?p=387#comment-241 and to top it off: today mathilda and I enjoying the grassy patch outside the mall (okay, no comment here, please), "gardening." When a mother and probably 5 year old daughter came outside, clearly from Build a Bear, shouting as she opens a bag of popcorn, "as soon as I see that sh..t in my car, I swear I will leave you on the curbside." Then continues is Spanish a bit more. Back to English: I spent all this money on you, and you are so ungrateful, you didn't even say thank you. Grateful for what exactly?? Public humiliation? and to top it off: today mathilda and I enjoying the grassy patch outside the mall (okay, no comment here, please), “gardening.” When a mother and probably 5 year old daughter came outside, clearly from Build a Bear, shouting as she opens a bag of popcorn, “as soon as I see that sh..t in my car, I swear I will leave you on the curbside.” Then continues is Spanish a bit more. Back to English: I spent all this money on you, and you are so ungrateful, you didn’t even say thank you. Grateful for what exactly?? Public humiliation?

]]> By: KSB http://mannahattamamma.com/2010/03/overheard-how-not-to-help-with-homework/comment-page-1/#comment-240 KSB Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:35:17 +0000 http://mannahattamamma.com/?p=387#comment-240 Oh my goodness, that is so scary and sad....if he is willing to talk about smacking his child so openly in public like that, I shudder to think what he might do in the privacy of his home. And, what will happen to this boy? Growing up like this, what will he learn about violence, power relationships, communication, and problem solving? So sad..... Lastly, what should we do? When we live in urban environments that bring us into close contact--and I think New York has long lost even E.B.White's 18 inches of privacy--we are forced into situations where we overhear such things but have no contextual information about the people involved to inform us, so, how do we decide what to do? Do we pretend not to hear? Do we intervene--and if so, how and when? How and where do we draw the line between respecting other people's choices and fulfilling a larger responsibility to humanity? Oh my goodness, that is so scary and sad….if he is willing to talk about smacking his child so openly in public like that, I shudder to think what he might do in the privacy of his home.

And, what will happen to this boy? Growing up like this, what will he learn about violence, power relationships, communication, and problem solving? So sad…..

Lastly, what should we do? When we live in urban environments that bring us into close contact–and I think New York has long lost even E.B.White’s 18 inches of privacy–we are forced into situations where we overhear such things but have no contextual information about the people involved to inform us, so, how do we decide what to do? Do we pretend not to hear? Do we intervene–and if so, how and when? How and where do we draw the line between respecting other people’s choices and fulfilling a larger responsibility to humanity?

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