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Posted by Mommy Woobie on January 21st, 2008 in Mommy Alert, Proud Mommy

Consider this scene. A passersby compliments a baby for being cute, then looks eerily astounded when he/she looks at the parent of the baby. How does the parent feel? I was at a small canteen having my lunch when a new patron came in to eat. The canteen owner’s toddler son rushes out to open the door and the new customer immediately exclaims, “oh what a cute baby!”, which made the canteen owner smile. But the next comment made me feel like choking on my lunch. “Why is your son so cute… but you are so….” she trailed off when she realized she had been too tactless.

I felt like laughing in utter shock and disbelief at what I heard but I just literally choked on the cola I was sipping. The new patron rushed out in embarassment. At least she had sense enough to know that it’s a bad idea to eat in a place where she insulted the cook.

I thought that this was an isolated incident and never thought I’d witness a similar one again. In the baby accessories part of the mall, mommies were lining up to pay for their purchases when an Amerasian (American dad-Filipino mom) toddler rushed to the woman right in front of me to add more toys to their overflowing cart. The woman right beside her on the other line exclaimed in a condescending manner, “oh that boy is very lucky that his father is handsome”, and to make matters worse, the tactless lady looked the mom in front of me up and down disgustedly. I seriously feared for my life, and everyone in the line with me when the mom in question angrily retorted back, “It’s a good thing that I’m not some cheapskate who can’t afford to buy more expensive toys for her son!”

I was so shocked! How can people use a child to express their disdain of other people’s physical appearance? I swear, if someone did that to me… well, let’s just say, they’d better not.

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