caro
Drama Llama
Refupea 1130
Posts: 5,222 
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Post by caro on Dec 4, 2014 21:44:28 GMT
What or how would you handle this as an owner?
I was in a very unique boutique today, all kinds of jewelry, electic things, expensive things. It's a wonderful place to find an unusual gift for someone.
As I was waiting to make my decision and purchase, I observed a young mom and her just turned 2 year old. I know this because the owner asked the mom how old little girl was. Little girl was playing with rings and bracelets that were on her eye level.
As mom and child left, mom turned to owner and said, " she removed all the rings and bracelets, you might want to fix the display."
I'm old, I know that, but this is just not ok in my book. We talk about childrens' sense of entitlement and to me this allowed behavior perpetuates it. I would not allow my children to handle the merchandise and if that is not possible for the child, I would not take my child into the store.
The owner did not say anything to the mom. Nor to me after the mom left. I wonder if she was ok about it.
The bracelets and rings were in the $50 range.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 21:37:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2014 21:46:35 GMT
To me, it doesn't matter if you are in a boutique or dollar store or if the rings are 50 dollars or 50 cents.. children do not touch or play with things, and if they do, you clean up after them.
Growing up, my mom always said, "Look with your eyes, not with your hands". Now my kids hear it all the time, too!
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oldcrow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,828
Location: Ontario,Canada
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Post by oldcrow on Dec 4, 2014 21:50:08 GMT
To me, it doesn't matter if you are in a boutique or dollar store or if the rings are 50 dollars or 50 cents.. children do not touch or play with things, and if they do, you clean up after them. Growing up, my mom always said, "Look with your eyes, not with your hands". Now my kids hear it all the time, too!  And if you cannot control your child get a sitter or don't go shopping. |
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caro
Drama Llama
Refupea 1130
Posts: 5,222
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Post by caro on Dec 4, 2014 21:50:37 GMT
To the mom's credit she did pick up the bracelets and rings. "Look but don't touch" is what I heard as a child and what I taught my kids.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Dec 4, 2014 21:50:50 GMT
To me, it doesn't matter if you are in a boutique or dollar store or if the rings are 50 dollars or 50 cents.. children do not touch or play with things, and if they do, you clean up after them. Growing up, my mom always said, "Look with your eyes, not with your hands". Now my kids hear it all the time, too! I said that to my kids too. It's actually hugely helpful to start early and be consistent. My kids knew they weren't allowed to touch anything ever in stores. If this was a trip to buy THEM something, we made that clear early and then they'd go and pick it out. Otherwise it was all about looking with your eyes. That way whether I'm looking at pots and pans or fine crystal, they wouldn't touch anything. |
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Post by originalvanillabean on Dec 4, 2014 21:50:52 GMT
I'm old school so I don't find letting your 2 year old play with valuable merchandise that you haven't paid for acceptable.
The comment from the mom to the owner sounds like an entitled brat.
I understand why the owner didn't comment to the mom, and I suppose bad publicity could hurt her reputation.
Common decency is eroding from when I grew up, and it really makes me sad.
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Post by snappinsami on Dec 4, 2014 21:52:19 GMT
"Look but don't touch" is what I was raised on, and what I raised my DD on as well. Some parents just don't want to deal with the nastiness that can come from telling a child "no." They'd rather do what that mother did. Makes me really pissed.
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Post by epeanymous on Dec 4, 2014 21:53:26 GMT
As others have noted, that isn't acceptable at a department store either. I wouldn't let my two-year-old play with merchandise unless it were set out for the purpose of being played with (the train tables at toy stores, e.g.). That woman's behavior was rude.
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Post by bianca42 on Dec 4, 2014 21:53:47 GMT
If this were my child...
First, I'd try really hard to shop at this store while kids aren't with me.
If I HAD to go in with the kids for some reason, I'd keep their hands off the merchandise.
If for some reason my child messed up a display, I would totally put it back together as best as I could...and make sure that they know how naughty it is to do that. (DS2 actually was pushing product back on the shelf while we were shopping this weekend. I scolded him and refaced the shelf. I have vivid memories of my Dad giving me a rag and some windex so that I could clean and reface the shelves at his store when I was little.)
If I was the owner...
I would probably not say anything either. Dealing with cleaning up after the kid is probably better than the bad publicity the Mom could generate if she said something.
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Post by M~ on Dec 4, 2014 22:21:03 GMT
As a child, I was taught to walk into places of business with my hands clasped behind my back and was never allowed to touch anything. As an adult, when I go into a store like that and I want to touch anything, I ask for permission to do so.
This is what we teach the kids in the family. As a matter of fact, tons of kids drop by and my house was never child-proofed. We have a lot of crystal, china, etc and the kids never broke anything.
IMHO, that child's behavior was unacceptable.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 4, 2014 22:53:45 GMT
To me, it doesn't matter if you are in a boutique or dollar store or if the rings are 50 dollars or 50 cents.. children do not touch or play with things, and if they do, you clean up after them. Growing up, my mom always said, "Look with your eyes, not with your hands". Now my kids hear it all the time, too! This, EXACTLY. I have taken DD into stores like that, and she behaves herself because she knows I will accept nothing less. To give her a fair shot, I don't take her anywhere when she is tired, hungry, sick or crabby. It's just not worth it to me to have to deal with that, I will wait until she's in a position where she can behave or I wait until I can go alone. She knows it's a treat to get to go along, and she likes going places with me so she doesn't get into things or act up. On the very rare occasions when she would pitch a fit, we would immediately leave and I would go back another time by myself. I've only had to do that once or twice. Once when I had my (small) LSS, this lady came in with a little boy, maybe 3-4 years old. As soon as they walked in the door, she let go of his hand to shop and he proceeded to full on run laps around the main aisle shelving. They were the only people in the store. She said nothing to him to rein him in. There was a 6' tall My Mind's Eye spinner with all of those little printed people diecuts, titles, frames, etc. at the end of the aisle. After several minutes of this nonsense, I spoke up and said something to him myself, such as "Please walk while you are in the store." Nothing. No reaction from him or from her. A couple minutes later, he took that corner a little too fast and clipped the MME spinner and the whole thing went flying along with everything on it. Two words for ya: DIECUTS EVERYWHERE! Now I was really ticked and I'm sure it showed, because that display took close to four hours to set up when all the stuff was bundled together by type and organized! Now it was all over the floor in a jumbled up mess. My first words were to the kid, if he was okay (he was, but startled and crying). Then she starts to lamely try to start picking it all up and I just stopped her. "Just LEAVE it. I will take care of it." She beat it out of the store quickly after that. I want to say it took more than 6 hours to pick everything up, sort it all out and put it back on that rack. It was a nightmare. I'm sure if the kid would have gotten hurt, she probably would have sued me too. This is a big part of why I'm a FORMER LSS owner, LOL! |
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snugglebutter
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,566
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Post by snugglebutter on Dec 4, 2014 22:55:09 GMT
IMHO, that child's behavior was unacceptable. In this circumstance I would consider the mother's behavior unacceptable, not the child's. Two year olds are not known for their impulse control. That age requires constant supervision and redirecting. I would avoid taking a child that age to a boutique, but if I had to the child would be watched like a hawk - holding their hand or carrying if the store was too small for a stroller. |
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Post by amandad74 on Dec 4, 2014 22:56:11 GMT
To me, it doesn't matter if you are in a boutique or dollar store or if the rings are 50 dollars or 50 cents.. children do not touch or play with things, and if they do, you clean up after them. Growing up, my mom always said, "Look with your eyes, not with your hands". Now my kids hear it all the time, too! In this house too! |
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Post by Minnesota*Mom on Dec 4, 2014 23:55:15 GMT
Reminds me of an incident I saw a few weeks ago. I was in a shop that sells unique gifts, furniture, jewelry, etc. I only shop here when my kids are not with me as it is not a kid friendly atmosphere. A mom and two small children entered the store and the mom was handing each child a large candy cane and opening them. Maybe the mom thought that if the kids had something in their hands to eat that they wouldn't touch anything, but all I could think about was the sticky fingers and mess. I was anxious just watching the kids/mom in the store, but the shop owner was so gracious about the situation.
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craftykitten
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,304
Jun 26, 2014 7:39:32 GMT
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Post by craftykitten on Dec 4, 2014 23:59:15 GMT
Why on earth didn't the mother have the child in her arms or a stroller? To me, that seems like too young just to be able to wander around a shop on their own.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 21:37:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 0:13:11 GMT
As mom and child left, mom turned to owner and said, " she removed all the rings and bracelets, you might want to fix the display." I'm old, I know that, but this is just not ok in my book. We talk about childrens' sense of entitlement and to me this allowed behavior perpetuates it. I would not allow my children to handle the merchandise and if that is not possible for the child, I would not take my child into the store. The owner did not say anything to the mom. Nor to me after the mom left. I wonder if she was ok about it. The bracelets and rings were in the $50 range. As an owner? Silently roll my eyes in my head because no real damage was done. As a customer witnessing the incident? I'd say You may want to leave your child at home if she's going to mess up the display. That's why you don't see with my son at a very nice boutique. |
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Deleted
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Aug 18, 2025 21:37:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 0:18:09 GMT
The child is not to blame...the mom should have her hands smacked.
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caro
Drama Llama
Refupea 1130
Posts: 5,222
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Post by caro on Dec 5, 2014 0:19:57 GMT
IMHO, that child's behavior was unacceptable. In this circumstance I would consider the mother's behavior unacceptable, not the child's. Two year olds are not known for their impulse control. That age requires constant supervision and redirecting. I would avoid taking a child that age to a boutique, but if I had to the child would be watched like a hawk - holding their hand or carrying if the store was too small for a stroller. My thoughts too. |
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Post by oliquig on Dec 5, 2014 0:40:11 GMT
Growing up, my mom always said, "Look with your eyes, not with your hands". Now my kids hear it all the time, too! I said this all the time to my niece when she was younger. I also said "this is a hands in pocket store." I don't agree with what the mom did at all. |
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And if you cannot control your child get a sitter or don't go shopping.
