Mum praises 12-year-old son for swearing at elderly woman in the supermarket

20 January 2022, 15:07

By Heart

@thisisheart

A mum has defended her son after he swore at a woman at the supermarket.

A mum has divided opinion after she revealed she let her 12-year-old son swear at an elderly woman.

Taking to Reddit, Sandy explained that she had taken her three children - aged five, eight and 12 - to the supermarket while her husband was in isolation.

Her middle child has autism and doesn’t like being in loud and busy places, so Sandy gave him an iPad and headphones to keep him relaxed.

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She said: “[My eight-year old] is on the spectrum and has trouble in places like grocery stores, so I gave him an iPad with cellular and over the ear headphones - he should be good to go... he doesn't like loud noises or strangers touching him."

Things became very uncomfortable when an elderly lady began complaining about kids' use of technology.

She then scolded the little boy, saying headphones ‘are for at home only’, and told Sandy she needs to teach her kids to ‘interact in public’.

“The lady starts going on about kids today and technology,” the post continued.

“She is trying to get my eight-year-old’s attention. I don’t want to startle him, so my 12-year-old moves between them.

“The old woman told me my kids were rude, ignoring her.

“She taps on my eight-year-old, and I pull him aside. He looks up from his iPad and takes his headphones off to see if something is wrong.

“I’m trying to get his headphones back on, and the old woman says these types of things are for at home only, and I need to teach my kids to interact in public.

“She tells him he’s old enough to know better than to act like this, scolding him. Loudly publicly and in the middle of the store.”

Unfortunately, Sandy’s son then started to cry, which she says is often ‘the start of a meltdown’.

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In response, her eldest child turned to the woman and said: “You stupid b****, he's autistic.”

While Sandy would usually tell off her children for swearing, this time she praised him for standing up for his brother.

And other parents were also in agreement, with one writing: “They stood up for their brother. If the old lady had any class she would have left him be.”

Another said: “Sometimes protecting family is more important than being polite when the other person assumes they have privileges because of their age. I think people forget touching strangers is assault.”

But someone else wrote: “The oldest kid sounds like a champ. But it would be best to privately talk to him about the language, however much she deserved it. It gave her something objective to complain about.”

Another mum added: “As a fellow autistic mother of a boy you handled this way better then I would have, how dare this woman lecture you on what your children are doing and how your children should be acting.”