Teen Mom Maci Bookout is definitely my favorite cast member on the series. She seems to have her head on straight, she certainly loves her son Bentley, and she's a hard worker who only wants the best for her family. So when reports like this come out saying that Maci was letting Bentley run wild in a PacSun store, you gotta kind of wonder who's behind it. In this case, it's a PacSun employee who took to her Facebook page and Instagram feed to blast the MTV star, saying that she comes into the shop and "lets her son destroy everything," continuing that it's "her fault" and that she's "more worried about how other people see her than how her kid is being brought up."
OK, please. As anyone who's been around a toddler longer than half a second will tell you, it's not always Momma's fault that the little one knocked over a stack of your precious surfer tees.
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Toddlers are unpredictable little Tasmanian devils one minute, and gloriously calm snugglebunnies the next. Their mood swings are the wonders of years 2 and 3, and as Maci probably knows, there's only so much you can do.
Now, who knows what kind of destruction Bentley caused at the PacSun, but if Maci's anything in real life like she is on TV, I'm sure she was doing her best to rein him in, without restraining him, screaming, no doubt, in a stroller or something. It only takes a second to turn around to try on a pair of sunglasses for a toddler to unravel a dressing room curtain.
No matter how vigilant a parent is, those things sometimes happen. All you can do is apologize, leave red faced, and know that tomorrow will be better, no matter what you will or won't be able to control.
Has your toddler ever acted out in a store?
Photo via mtv.com
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Comments 38
I also know when my son is having a bad day and don't inflict him on poor shop keepers. Instead I take him to the park where he can run off his energy.
A mother IS responsible if her toddler tears apart a store. She is supposed to have control of her child.
Yes we should blame her, it is her fault that her child messed things up in a store. She should be teaching him the proper behavior.
I disagree with this whole article, but especially the idea that "all you can do is apologize and leave red-faced". How about offering to clean up the mess, pay for any damaged items and have your child apologize to the store owner for damaging his property? And then promptly taking the child home for a time-out and consistently enforcing expectations and consequences, and in the meantime not taking the the child into stores until he learns how to behave in public?
Kelticmom, I totally understand and agree with you. I've never worked in retail, however, I HATE seeing displays messed up because well, it invovles picking up and folding clothes. I always try to fix it.
As for the above commentators. My daughter is 3. She knows what is expected of her in public, but she like *GASP* EVERY BLOODY PERSON can have a bad day and just not want to listen. What am I supposed to do? HIde out at my house on those days? She's great in public, though trying.
I'm really tired of the "It's the parent's fault" mentality. What are children not to be held accountable for their own actions anymore? Has respect been thrown out the window completely? I'm sure the majority of mothers don't set out to teach bad manners, but bad ones are easier to pick up than good ones (whining phase for example). Just like we don't blame the parent when there's a crying baby, we shouldn't when there's a child on a rampage. Blame the child, not the parent, though if the parent is ignoring the situation, not addressing it in anyway THEN it's the parent's fault for not parenting. Sheesh people, what happened to compassion and not pointing fingers?
Kelticmom, I always re-fold shirts, re-hang clothes, and put the paper shoe forms back in if I took them out to try on shoes. I do NOT believe that it's the store employees' job to clean up after me.
Rebecca, I agree with you to a point. All toddlers do have bad days. However, I always look at what the parent is doing (or not doing). As a kid, I learned very quickly that if I misbehaved in a store or restaurant, I would immediately be taken home for a time-out, or out to the hallway or car if we couldn't leave because it was not the responsibility of those around us to put up with our misbehavior. I think the issue here is not that the child had a "bad day", but that his mother appears to have done nothing while he ran around, damaging or displacing items that did not belong to him, and generally disrupting the shopping experience of others. THAT is what I have a problem with--parents who look on while their child misbehaves with this look of "Oh well, kids will be kids, what can you do?" and do nothing to stop or correct the behavior.