Reason #935,582, 761 for “Why I Would Be A Crappy Mother”: I have zero patience for tantrums, especially the tantrums of children too young to be reasoned with or bribed. I see kids at the grocery store or in various department stores having full-blown meltdowns and every single time, I think “better her than me.” I have sympathy, of course, for the mother who has to deal with a tantrumy child, especially moms who manage to deal with it with some kind of grace, rather than resorting to a bottle of whiskey. So, how does Charlize Theron deal with it when her three-year-old son Jackson throws a tantrum? She puts him in time-out, even if they’re in the middle of a hiking trail. And that’s when the whole thing just got crazy.
Sean Penn and Charlize Theron had their morning hike interrupted by cops Thursday … after another hiker accused them of possibly mistreating Charlize’s toddler … but we’re told cops determined they did nothing wrong … TMZ has learned.
The incident went down at Vasquez Rocks in Santa Clarita, CA. Charlize and Sean were having a sunrise picnic when a female hiker with a camera stopped after she heard Charlize’s 2-year-old son Jackson screaming in a tantrum. The hiker went towards the child and started filming.
We’re told Charlize told the woman not to go near Jackson, so the hiker left and called the cops and claimed something bad might have happened to the kid.
We’re told the deputies quickly determined nothing happened. Jackson was just on a timeout and got really upset. The deputies concluded the timeout involved no physical contact, so they left and no action will be taken.
I realize that child endangerment is nothing to joke about, but can this person really not figure out the difference between “something terrible is happening to a child” and “that kid is a having a fit because his mom brought the wrong juice box”? It seems so… odd to me that this stranger’s first reaction was to FILM Jackson, and then call the cops on Charlize. Maybe the context was a lot different than how it was portrayed by TMZ though. This is just a bizarre story. My take: Charlize did nothing wrong on the cop-calling stranger is a nosy busybody.
Here are some photos of Sean Penn and Charlize arriving at LAX earlier this week – they had been filming together in South Africa for months, then they took a short break in Paris. I’m actually a little bit surprised that they’re still together.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Can you blame the poor little boy? Most people will throw a tantrum or scream if they have to spend time with Sean Penn.
I seriously cramped my neck from throwing my head back and laughing. Bravo, Maya!
Yo también. You win, Maya.
🙂
Yes to this!
You know what? I see those scowley photos of Penn with that tiny child and I have flashbacks to the very scowley, snappish, grumpy older man who was my step-father for a while, when I was small. The man never abused me, but being around a big dark cloud like that was TERRIFYING and scarring. It made my home life hell, and not sure I’ve quite forgiven my mom for bringing him into our lives. I just–wham, those photos. Knowing Penn has a temper just makes my skin crawl even more. That kid can’t be having fun right now.
Yes, this is super-assumption-y of me, I know. But I’m having a visceral reaction right now.
Yes, because I’ve seen picks of Sean doting on Jackson, so I don’t think he’s mean and scowly all the time. I’ve also seen picks of Sean and Charlize looking like they adore one another. Now when they break up–that’ll be a different story. I’m no fan of Penn, especially if the abuse claims about Madonna and Robin Wright are true. I just don’t think he’s always in a bad mood when he’s around Jackson. Given, Charlize’s family history, I hope she wouldn’t allow that.
Robin Wright claimed abuse?
I kinda believe it because everyone he’s been with claimed abuse. Madonna’s brother saw it, too. How many times were cops called?
Maya: yessss!
I assumed it was Sean Penn having the tantrum.
Yes, the Madonna abuse was well-documented. But who else? Who’s everybody?
Cheese and rice that’s terrible on all accounts. I would be shocked except I gave a mother who nearly called CPS on me for giving my kid timeout…. Some people are really sensitive to discipline I guess.
UGH People are the worst… and calling police behind Timeouts ffs which are already the epitome of “I never even spank my kid”
And isn’t a time out supposed to be the alternative to spanking?
Ha! I have three kids and I still loathe a tantrumy child. It’s just unnecessary. Like, I don’t understand those kid memes where the child is melting down because his Cheerio’s are touching or his shirt has stripes.
This same thing happened to my brother-in-law. They had to pull over their car because my niece was throwing such a fit – someone called the cops when they saw her screaming and flailing on the side of the road. I think it’s kind of strange, but then again, what if something were really going on and you didn’t call the police?
You can tell when a child is in real distress. If adults are standing around calmly and the child is flipping out, chances are the child is acting like an ass. Also, and this is just a comment on what CB said, NEVER bribe a tantrumy child. You’re creating a monster. All it does is reinforce the behavior. The tantrum behavior either results in being ignored or being punished. I refuse to give in to my child’s tantrum for the sake of the public, and create a wrose situation in the long run. So people can mind their business on how I choose to discipline my child.
“You can tell when a child is in real distress.”
Ha! Do you even have kids? My youngest is quite dramatic. Oscar-level theatrics over the most mundane occurance. I hear screams of agony and come running only to discover his brother took his favorite lego man.
I do in fact have one child. She is frequently theatric. A scream from afar may very well SOUND distressing. But as you said, upon review of the scene, you can tell nothing is amiss very quickly, if not immediately. I never said anything about responding to sounds of a child screaming.
Naye, I understand what you are saying. I remember one time when my daughter accidentally ran into one of those metal rods that hang accessories in a department store and hit her cheek under her eye. She started screaming in pain and three different people hustled over to look and when they saw me holding and comforting her, they kept going about their business. I think there is a big difference between theatrics and real distress, but you also really have to pay attention to how the parent is acting. I also agree about the bribing bit. My friend has a spoiled monster for a daughter because she buys her a toy at even the first hint of a tantrum. The zoo has it’s gift shop right by the entrance, and every time we would go in her daughter would see the stuffed animals and cry until her mom would finally give in and get her one. Now the child has a room full of stuffed animals and keeps getting more.
My mom was the Queen of ignoring me when I threw tantrums. She’d just remove me from wherever we were (usually a store b/c I was screaming for candy or a toy) and put me in the car and take me home, very calmly without engaging with me at all. Then I’d have to go sit in my room until I could be quiet. Or, more probably, until she was no longer irritated with me. I don’t recall ever once getting the thing I freaked out about.
Naye – You are sooooo right about giving in to tantrums. I have a relative who is a nasty, spiteful thing. He’s almost 18 now, but his whole life he would scream at his mother. Tell her he hates her and wants her to die. Cause a scene and start fights because he feels entitled to whatever he wants. And why? All because he knows if he behaves this way he gets his way. His mother and my grandmother would always give him what he wanted just because they knew it would shut him up. It’s disgusting and I honestly fear for him and society when he is totally on his own. It will be a miracle if he doesn’t end up in jail. He was just in juvenile jail for fighting with his mother and threatening to kill her if she kicked him out once he turns 18. There might be some mental illness involved and he has been on medication and seen Drs, but giving into his every whim just to shut him up certainly hasn’t helped him at all.
@Wren- Your mother is the Patron Saint of Patience, because if I had to leave a store because of a tantrum on a continual basis (packing around a kid, driving to and fro, is a major pain in the ass)….i don’t know. I probably can’t say it on here lol
My daughter was a good kid but she had 2 tantrums that I really remember… one in a department store whereby I marched out of the store with her under my arm, screaming her head off, and my boss saw it. The second was at her own birthday party when she got eliminated from musical chairs. She had a fit and actually bit me on the head!!! She’s never forgotten that one either and we now laugh about it and her getting sent to her room at her own party.
Why is Charlize wearing a scarf around her head like a hijab? Bad hair day?
I was in a grocery store last weekend, and these two little girls about 5 years old were running all over the store without supervision. Then they run up to their mom who was near me, and say that they dropped stuff and it broke. The mom told the girls that they need to tell the store about the broken items.
About 5 minutes later, SHRIEKING screams come from the frozen food isle. One of the girls went back to mess with the items she broke, which happened to be glass, and she cut her foot. The store clerks had to get first aid to clean and bandage the cut. You could really tell the difference between the girls’ previous loud exclamations and when the injury actually happened.
It made me sad, because it seemed like the girl wouldn’t have been injured if her mother had better control over the girls. Especially after they broke merchandise, I would think the mother would tell the girls to stay with her. Also, I don’t know why the mother would think that 5 year old girls won’t be vulnerable to predators when wandering around a store by themselves for a half an hour.
@Screwsterat- She sure was! It didn’t happen too often- I was a good kid or so I’ve been told- but when I lost she’d just pack my screaming ass up and take me home and that was that. My grandma was that way too. She’d just stand there and stare at me looking bored, like, “Are you finished yet?”
Maybe when the caller heard the child screaming, she thought he was being hurt? As for the video, everything is being captured nowadays, it makes breaking news more exciting.
Funny how it’s always phone out to FILM first and then make the emergency phone call. Priorities.
It’s these types of situations that compel celebrities to make random comments about how being photographed is like being raped. I’m not saying that I agree with that statement in any way, but really…whip your phone out and start recording a kid randomly? Creeper vibes much? It’s a gross invasion of privacy and unless Charlize or Sean Penn had the kid in a chokehold or hanging his upside down by one leg on the edge of a cliff or he was bleeding profusely, why is it any of her business? Children cry. What on earth would make her think he was being hurt. It’s called I saw them hiking and was waiting on an opportunity to sell anything to the press.
It’s really creepy – that lady is lucky Charlize didnt deck her for filming her kid. I would.
First get the picture for the almighty dollar, then get the kid help. That woman’s actions were sickening. I would want to smack her for that reason alone.
Oooh, wtf, this would make my resting bitch face become permanently etched. I would tell people FILMING MY CRYING KID to stay away too.
I mean really. I understand everyone despises these two but some weird lady was filming her child. If she really thought Theron’s child was in danger, the first thing she should have done in intervened, second thing she should have done is called the cops. But she whips out her cellphone? Uh, ok. Super-sketchy.
If someone walked up to my child and started filming? Oh HELL no. And I don’t know many people that would be polite or accomodating in that scenario. It sounds like she was just miffed about being told to get the hell out and called the police out of spite.
^ exactly!! ^
Right? If you really think a child is in distress you help them, you don’t film them.
^^ Totally.
Imagine being stressed out, what with the kid throwing a tantrum in public, and then someone starts filming it? Like your are a freaking zoo animal?!? I would tell them to step right the hell off. Then they get all butt hurt and call the cops?!?! Sometimes I really do find myself pitting celebrities.
I agree. It almost seems like the person filming wanted to be apart of a big celeb story, because her priority sure as f wasn’t protecting the child.
I think filming kids has the potential to be very dangerous for them, and for anyone to tape kids that aren’t their own is a REALLY sketchy thing to do. There are just very few circumstances I can think of where filming a kid you don’t know would be appropriate.
Exactly. She’s looking for attention, exploitating that child and the situation. Charlize may not be popular, but to film another person’s child is just disgusting. And to have your first gut reaction be to FILM that baby? No. The first reaction of a concerned person is to ask the parent if everything is ok. If they act sketchy, then you call the police if they actually seem like they are being abusive. You CREATE a volatile and hostile reaction from parents when you FILM THEIR F#CKING CHILD before inquiring about the situation. That’s a self fulfilling prophecy. “Well they were acting weird” … because you were filming her baby.
Gahhh! What is wrong with people?!
I can see the filming as a gut reaction in the days we live in.
1. It’s documenting everything so people are less likely to lash out.
2. It could be used for profit or viewership down the road.
I think these 2 reasons are awful, but very common.
What did the filmer think was going to happen? She pulled out her phone and approached a child. Not only could that intimidate the boy, but provoke Charlize into thinking there’s a threat in this woman.
I’m no fan of either actor, but that pass-by was out of line.
I wonder had that family simply been people and not famous ones would the woman do the same?
I would think that goes double for celebrity.
Exactly. The person filming is lucky that she didn’t find herself in hot water, taking footage of someone else’s kid.
Word! Bridget upthread also said exactly what I was thinking.
THIS.
I’m not a mother, but I’m an aunt and have been a nanny. You get close to my nieces/nephews/ward (especially with a CAMERA creepy creeper), you better watch your step. I will momma bear you. I’m insanely protective. And kids throw fits. My number one comment when people tried to interject during timeouts/discipline was “do not engage her/him.” Kids are going to freak out. They’re little people trying to understand a big world that doesn’t make much sense yet. It’s only natural.
It’s true, it could have been anything and it was probably some weird chick acting like a froot loop around a famous person but I can totally see Charlize growling volatility at her son then cursing the women out.
What I don’t understand is why people don’t take the time to talk to the parents and try to asses the situation before calling the cops. People are so unwilling to interact anymore.
Charlize & Sean don’t seem like people you can calmly talk to (to assess the situation). She seems like an ice cold bitch & he’s the king of rage.
She would’ve made a great Hitchcock blonde.
I always loved the Hitchcock blondes. Hitchcock female characters in general. Hahaha. They were straight up ice. Smart too.
I would definitely talk to a parent rather than film a child’s tantrum, though, no matter how icy the parent seems. Filming is a gross invasion of that child’s privacy. She was looking for a payday, imo.
To be fair, if the parent(s) was/were abusive, then either the parent(s) would (1) say everything is fine, (2) tell the person to mind their own business or (3) go batdoody, making it possibly dangerous for the person, too.
All 3 are also very likely reactions of normal, non-abusive parents too – especially considering that this lady came walking up filming the kid. I think about how I would have reacted in that scenario and it wouldn’t have been pretty, and I most definitely do not abuse my children.
Oh, I was talking generally, not specifically about the Theron and Penn situation. I agree, the filming was gross.
Who films if they hear a child screaming? That female hiker sounds like a nutter and I bet recognized Charlize and Sean and hoped for something to sell. The fact she spoke to TMZ speaks volumes. I can’t stand RBF either but geez I don’t see a problem here.
Bingo. She probably hoped to catch something not because she was so concerned but because “OMG! It’s Charlene and Penn–if this is juicy I can get a pretty penny and 15 minutes of fame”.
@Kori yep.
Exactly. Oh, I’m just out for a hike at a popular LA area trail with my iPhone poised and ready.
I agree – I think if she really thought the kid was in trouble, she’d have called the police first, and “filming” would not have even crossed her mind. She was looking to sell them out.
Small children have tantrums, it’s called pushing the boundaries. If you cave and let them get away with it, you’re teaching them that that sort of behaviour is effective and they keep doing it. Putting them on a “time out” is exactly what you need to do, and yes, for a few times they’ll keep up the screaming in the hopes that it works. Once they learn that it doesn’t, they stop doing it.
Camera person sounds like a busybody who hasn’t had kids. There’s a clear difference once you’ve been there and done that, between the sound of a child crying in distress and one who is crying in anger in an attempt to manipulate.
Yes, exactly.
When I was a kid, we did not have tantrums in public. I remember that my little brother didn’t have tantrums in public when he was a toddler either. My mother never hit us or anything but if we started to act out, she’d give us the Death Ray Glare of Doom and quietly ask, “Would you like to continue this conversation in the car? We can go out to the car right now if you would like to continue this conversation in the car.” And that would end all acting out. I don’t remember anyone being taken out to the car, but I do remember that it worked.
I think some of it has to be fallout from cell phone usage. I remember when I was an undergraduate and worked for a time in a department store in the China, Crystal, and Silver department. I’d see moms with toddlers and the toddler was obviously overstimulated in that environment and the mom would ignore the child until the child broke something, at which point all he// would break loose. Even as a very young woman, I’d look at that and think, “Why is this mom surprised when the kid grabs at a shiny, pretty china cup?” and other less kind things. And now, you see children and their parents every day and the parents’ full attention is on the cell phone, not the kid. I don’t have my own kids, but to me that seems a recipe for disaster.
You’re absolutely right about the cell phone situation. I’m a brand new mom of a 4-month old baby, and even at this young age, he gets upset when I’m on the phone and not paying attention to him. I have zero tolerance for tantrums, but I’m starting to realize that I can’t demand a stellar behavior from my son if I’m the one contributing to him getting overstimulated and/or feeling neglected.
I don’t think I would blame children having tantrums on cell phones. Don’t get me wrong, they divide the parent’s attention, but the truth is that some children just have temper tantrums. Its totally normal, and is a way of pushing boundaries. Sometimes in public. Sometimes very loud. Not only do kids need to learn boundaries with their parents, but sometimes they simply need to learn constructive ways of processing their own emotions, especially frustration. I have been the parent of the child having the tantrum in the store on more than one occasion – I know that he isn’t a bad kid or a spoiled brat, but that I also don’t need to give in and let him do or have whatever he wants.
As a mother, I have to disagree. Our parents also used to open the door, let us go, and not see us for several hours. We live in a culture now that demands that we attend to our children all the time, and it results in narcissistic, demanding children and stressed, unbalanced mothers who feel like they are being judged if they aren’t 100%kids, 100% of the time. If we’re talking about discipline, then understanding that the world doesn’t revolve around them counts, too. I work partially from home, and my kids know that if they need something from me and I am on my phone, attending to something, they wait silently until I am ready to help them.
ETA to gear this a little towards smaller children. Kids have tantrums about ANYTHING. Most cellphone tantrums are probably because they like the vivid colors and want to see the phone themselves. And the worst thing a parent can do is teach a child that if they scream, the parent will respond.
The problem with giving children your undivided attention all the time is that it rarely gives you the ability to get anything done. I’m with you on the cell-phone thing, but as a single mother, when I’m in the grocery store, I’m trying to make calculations, follow my shopping list, etc. I’m happy my daughter is older now, where I we can have a conversation that doesnt require much as I push her around in the cart, but when a kid is younger and you get “I want, I want, mommy look, mommy look” you kind of get in the habit of tuning things out. The grocery store is a good place to teach patience to both kids and adults lol
Yes, I remember having tantrums at home in private but never in public. For one, my mother would pinch me if I start acting out in the store. She also scared me so much about breaking anything. I was under strict orders not to touch anything. The worst things I remember doing in public as a child is hiding in clothes racks (back when they were circular), walking backwards on the escalator, going through the sliding doors one too many times or assuming funny poses in one of those three-way department store mirrors.
Thank you for hitting on a pet peeve Frida. I don’t go window shopping with my kid. And I do my best to time grocery shopping for when he’s not with me. It’s one thing before they are walking age — to go out to the mall for an hour or so. But more than that and most infants are over-stimulated. And once he was walking — nada. If it weren’t for the internet, we’d be naked and our house would be barren….
There are places for children to be and places for children not to be. And the moms who think it’s shopping-therapy-as-usual or lunch-with-the-girls after they have kids need to get with the ticket.
@Malifecent: as much as you can try to time things appropriately, sometimes you have to run unexpected errands. Things come up, urgent items get forgotten, food runs out that can’t wait until later. Even the best parents sometimes get stuck with a tantrum out in public, and we shouldn’t judge just because our own kids may have reacted to a situation differently. We don’t know that mom’s story, we don’t know what contributed to the actions we may see.
@Betty I used to do the same things as a young child! I remember many lectures from my mother about hiding in the clothes racks and scaring her to death because she couldn’t find me. Anything else in public like tantrums or breaking things was strictly enforced with discipline. My father was the one who beat us if we messed up (and I do mean “beat” which is why I don’t physically discipline my son) but all my Mom had to do was give us a look and a strong word in public and we stopped immediately.
@Bridget. I was referring to Frida’s general comments about people bringing children to her china department for window-shopping and browsing, and then not properly monitoring them. I’m not referring to running a necessary errand. I’m referring, and I believe Frida also, to parents are taking their sweet time and making a social event out of the shopping. It’s not fair to the shop employees or the children themselves to have children not properly attended or overly constrained.
I’m a single (and only — no Tuesday evenings or weekends off) parent , and I don’t have family in town. So, I have a much more constrained amount of time without my child than the average parent. I’ve taken my kid to china shops and other “iffy” places when I need to. I get what I need, keep my child with me at all times, and I leave ASAP. My mom, who raised five kids, did the same.
@Ginger you HAVE to watch the episode of Black-ish on spanking, because it is about a kid who keeps hiding and freaks everybody out, and whether they should spank him or not, and its HILARIOUS!
I saw this episode and it was genius!!!
+1000
I was walking down the street once, with a bawling, screaming, tantruming fantling strapped into her stroller, and some guy came up to me and told me I was a bad mother because I wasn’t comforting my obviously distressed child. I’m on team Charlize with this one.
Me too. Unsolicited input from random strangers who have only witnessed half the story at best is the worst thing about being a parent. Mine is autistic so I get some really outrageous input from people who don’t know and think I should be doing something differently from how I am.
@anthea: same here. Once we hit about 3 years old people got a lot less understanding of my son’s shenanigans when we were in public, as though its way past time for me to get my kids in line.
Ugh my son was around 4 once and we were in the store at the check out line, and he was having an absolute meltdown (he has adhd so that contributes to more frequent meltdowns). I usually am fairly patient with him, but I was at my limit this day, so I was threatening with all sorts of things if he didn’t quit. And the lady behind me, decided to tell me (while he is screaming, mind you) that children just need love and positive reinforcement and I was being too negative, which is the reason he hadn’t calmed down. And then I was the one holding back tears, I was so upset. That moment is seared into my memory forever.
+1
I’ve given my child a timeout in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. Everyone just walked around us and one lady asked me if he was ok. I said, yep, we’re having a timeout for not listening. She’s says, oh I understand and keeps on walking. Most other mothers get it.
My son was not autistic but he looked a lot older than he actually was at the tantrum stage. He is big for his age and always has been. I got plenty of looks and judgment from people who assumed he was older. As for disciplining in public, I was in Wal Mart a few months ago and a child in a grocery cart was pleading with his mother and crying hysterically “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” And she just continued to lecture him loudly. Everyone was staring. I was thinking “Man, I feel for her. Been there. Done that.” A couple of ladies near me cracked me up when I listened to their conversation “Mmmm hmmm. He deserved that.” “Yes he did!” So some of us can be supportive!
So am I. Team Charlize. Although I am in the couldn’t go there camp (here here Kaiser), I totally agree with t.fanty on this. There seems to be SO MUCH EFFORT expended to make childhoods ‘magical’ these days that I see a lot of my peers not EVER being able to do things themselves without feeling guilty. There was even a radio spot on BBC about it a while back, and the number of people who called in to talk about how they would never dream of doing things without their kids (holidays, etc) was staggering. I do think that there need to be things that are just for the grown ups. I agree that kids do need to learn that they need to share the space around them with others, and that occasionally, they may not be invited to something or be the center of attention. That’s life, isn’t it?
Actually Highland, it was like this: whole families got together. The parents hung out and did their thing, and kids who wouldn’t necessarily have talked to each other had to learn how to deal. It was good for building social skills and diplomacy. There was nowhere to go if you didn’t get along, so you got along. Seems like that happens less.
I’m surprised the cop caller entered Charlize and Penn’s death arena and lived to tell about it.
Can you imagine the “death ray stink eye” Charlize and Sean gave this person? It would melt a glacier
Don’t think the cop nor the other woman lived to tell after entering hell’s bitches arena.
There is a missing person’s alert for those two.
I recently read a news story about people calling the police on parents for abuse and neglect for no reason. The bystander doesn’t see anything but assume abuse because the child is crying. People are too involved in other people’s lives. It’s one thing if you see hitting or a child alone at the pool but I don’t understand the logic of assuming abuse due to crying. That’s what kids do.
That’s insane!
Little kids, especially toddlers, scream like they are being murdered over nothing. All it takes is for them to be a little tired or cranky and next think you know there is shrieking because they have two barrettes in their hair instead of four or something equally harmless. Whenever my child throws tantrums it’s over the most ridiculous things!
My daughter is 15 months and she screams just to scream, usually when she gets really excited. I put a finger to her mouth and tell her shhh, to use her inside voice, but she’s learning. I always worry and think the neighbors (we live in an apartment) are going to think I’m abusing her or something.
I actually wonder if the impulse doesn’t come from a good place, though. It could be that everyone is just nosy these days and too willing to butt in, but also, we’re only like one generation removed from a time when people willfully looked the other way from child abuse. Look at the reversal on spanking. My parents spanked me, and while I would not say my parents abused me, they did make me afraid of them and I wouldn’t spank my kids, if I had any, because I remember that fear (literally, for years, I was terrified to see my dad take his belt off, even if he was *just taking his belt off*) and I wouldn’t ever want my own child to fear me in that way. think that’s why there’s such an anti-spanking thing right now, because there’s a generation of new parents who have a similar experience and aren’t willing to repeat it.
In the same vein, I imagine if we all thought about it, we probably all have a story about seeing something happening to a friend or classmate that seemed odd or off, but we didn’t say or do anything about it. For me, it was a girl down the street who never wanted to go home. She’s stay at our house as long as she could, and when my mom would eventually force her to go home for the night, she’d drag her feet. She never said anything and it’s not like I ever saw bruises, but for the years we lived near her, I never knew her to invite anyone to her house, and she always did everything she could to avoid going home. There could be a very simple explanation for that, or it could’ve been something bad. Today, as an adult, if I saw a kid repeating that behavior, I would question it. Because you don’t know, and better that you tell someone, “Hey, I think something may be wrong over there,” and then end up proven wrong than you remain silent and let someone suffer because of it.
In my opinion it’s always better if someone calls the cops for no reason (not everyone can assess if a child is in real distress or just throwing a tantrum) than if someone does NOT call the cops because they are not sure if something is really wrong.
A few days ago a 2 year old girl died because her father put her in a hot shower when she had a tantrum. She had second degree burns, but the parents only drove to the hospital a whole day later! There she had to be put into coma before she died. I’m sure the girl screamed in pain the whole day when she was left at home, suffering, but neighbours obviously DIDN’T call the cops – if they had, she may have survived.
Therefore: If you call the cops and everything is fine, then you have disgruntled parents and maybe annoyed cops. But if you don’t call the cops and something is going on, you may have a dead child.
This. I got the bitch face from a woman who left her two kids swimming with no lifeguards at the vacation condo complex – she was nowhere near them. The girl was 6 or 7. The boy was 9 or so. The girl was still at dog paddle stage. I told her she should mind the signs (as politely as possible). I would have been anguished if something had happened to those kids and I had said nothing.
Louis CK has a joke on this. He says that the difference between parents and non parents is evident when there is a woman screaming at her kid in public. All of the non-parents say “awwww, that poor child is being damaged by her mother”; all of the parents say “what did that little b*stard do this time?”
LOL so true
Lol! It’s so true, I never give the stink eye when I see a tantrum in progress, I give a knowing and apologetic smile to the parent, it’s so humiliating.
Yes I do too @Jess. I give the parent a hang in there face.
Yes, I also give the I know what you’re going through look to the parent lol
Same here. It’s the ‘we’ve all been there’ sympathy.
Mmmm hmmm. The knowing I’m a mom too look.
i guess I’m the lady on the airplane who makes a big gesture of getting her noise cancelling earphones and iPhone out of her bag and orders a scotch on the rocks while glaring in your general direction, lol.
Lol that is very true. Before I was a mother I would see kids having a fit and the mother just looking on and not saying anything, I would think to myself with a side-eye ” why doesn’t she calm her did down?” Now I know it’s because sometimes NOTHING can calm a tantrumy toddler, you just have to let it blow over. Yeah I tend to believe that the people calling the cops are not parents because when I see a crying I immediately think abuse but rather a tantrum over nothing because I deal with this all they long with my almost 2 1/2 year old.
*correction: I don’t immediately think abuse but rather a tantrum
Before I had kids I’d see a child screaming in public and think to myself “my children will know better than to behave like that in public”
I have since eaten my words.
As a non-parent, I usually think “Why does this tiny human sound like this? Please God make it stop.”
But that’s just me….
Nope. Parents think that, too. But usually with a lot more curse words.
We think that too. But you look terrible if you start telling a kid to “just shut the fuck up!”
Oh, but I have said that in my head so many times.
LOL! You guys are cracking me up 🙂
Mothers get only respect from me. Hardest job in the world.
@T.Fanty
i’ve mastered this low growl, where I get in real close and say things my parents said that i never thought I’d repeat like “I will give you something to cry about” and “A hard head makes a soft bottom.” I like to think children are entitled to their emotions, so I let snark, side eye, some back talk, and slight whines pass, but I have zero patience for a full on tantrum, I pinch the hell out of little arms. She knows when I move super fast towards he, she’s in real trouble lol. There has only been one time i absolutely could not get her to stop crying no matter what I did and had to leave the store, because i realized that her issue was probably bigger than what was going on in the immediate moment
The reel in my head is “I really want to punch you in the face”. Obviously I don’t and would never actually say it, but it’s nice to get the anger out in my head.
That’s what sucks when they get old enough to start comprehending language. It means that I can no longer sing “I hate my f*cking life” quietly to myself as I do everything that I can to ignore the blubbering mess in the time out corner.
Has anyone seen the blog “the reason my son is crying?” A dad photographed and documented the reasons for his son’s meltdowns. It’s genius.
Omg…L.O.Freaking L. You guys are a glowing endorsement for having a baby…….seriously you’re cracking me up.
@Naye in VA
Oh yeah, gotta be careful with curse words. My mom used to curse SO MUCH…..even in front of us when we were little–up until she heard my oldest sister calling her baby doll a ‘bitch’….haha.
I am very vocal when my children have tantrums. When the Heir or the Heiress start in, I point at them and loudly cry out, “To whom does this terrible child belong? What evil creature has borne such misery?” And then I walk out of the store in disgust.
I do the same thing when Mr. Rochester gets going too.
LOL! So true.
True
you know what i dislike most about tantrumy children?
parents who, in their attempt to placate their child, would point at strangers and say in the loudest voice (to cut through the screaming child): “look if you don’t stop, that mean lady will take you away and hurt you and you will live on the streets.”
and if this happens in a train on a long journey, for instance, that kid will look at me like i’m the devil’s left bumcheek.
well excuse my bitchy resting face, laydee! sheesh.
and even people i consider friends will sometimes do it. a friend’s child once told me that when she was younger, and when she would throw a tantrum, her mother used to tell her that the Scowly-Faced Auntie will hurt her bad if she continued tantruming. so that’s why she would cry uncontrollably when i approached her. duh.
What? Do people actually think that’s appropriate?
God, this is terrible. Nobody should say this kind of thing to children, it’s horrible.
I remember when I was 9 or 10, our neighbor told us that when her young daughter (around 2 years old) didn’t want to eat her meal, she told her that a man would come and took her away. And one day, somebody ring at the door when the kid was eating and she started crying because she thought the stranger was there for her. Her mother told that story and was laughing as it was funny. I was also a kid, and at 10, I already thought it was wrong.
And when I was a kid, my mom would tell me things like “I should have let you die when you were 2 years old” (after I had a near death accident). And then, several days later she told me she never said anything, and called me a liar, a horrible kid.
Or several times, when we were in the car and she was angry, she didn’t want to let me go home, even when I was sick and was begging her (and had horrible headache). She drove during 3-4 hours, screaming like crazy, she stopped at the police station, menacing me to leave me here. And then she would stop the car, leave me there alone for one hour before coming back and laughing at me. She would do a lot of things like that and then said she was a wonderful mother and a bad kid, when I was very shy and quiet.
There is not only physical abuse, it can also be emotional abuse.
i’m so horrified to read about your experience. children should never feel such fear from their own parents.
i’m so sorry 🙁 *hugs*
Jesus! That’s awful! So sorry.
If some stranger attempted to film or photograph my child, I would be the one calling the cops.
Nosy busybody.
THe irony, of course, is that in truly horrific situations of child abuse, often nothing is done, even with CPS involved for months/years. Just like domestic violence toward women, most of it occurs behind closed doors and despite a trail of red flags, the worst occurs. Having said that, it does seem kind of satisfying to call the police on Charlize and Sean.
Timeouts should be spent in silence so that the child has an opportunity to reflect on their bad behavior.
Elementary school teachers used to make kids “stand in the corner” if they misbehaved.
Yeah because most toddlers totally stop crying and stand quietly when you tell them to.
Especially if you put the dunce cap on their head.
Because they eventually do. They cry themselves out and feel remorse for bad behavior. Idk what the point of your comment was.
I agree with everyone that there is a huge difference between people who have and have not dealt with small children.
May I also note how great her legs are in the last airport photo?
What if the child wasn’t just throwing a tantrum but had reason for his distress?
I’m trying to imagine taking a three year old on a hike…he was probably tired!
Exactly. Three-year old on a hike? At a minimum, poor judgment. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they had a folding stroller or planned to carry him if he got tired.
Don’t assume things. The park officer said they were having a nice picnic and walked around a little with their dogs. It wasn’t some long hiking situation. There are a zillion things kids can tantrum about.
I’m trying to imagine taking Sean Penn on a hike.
He looks like he’s perpetually hungover and in constant pain.
TBH, I might pitch a tantrum if somebody tried to get me to take a sunrise hike.
I’d like to think that anyone with 1/2 a brain can tell the difference between “tantrum” screaming and “distress” screaming. If it’s not blatantly obvious that a child is being treating inappropriately bystanders should mind their business. And filming?? Ah hell no. If someone attempted to film my child without my consent in ANY situation I would flip my lid. Boundaries people!
I’m more concerned about the “sunrise picnic” thing. Did she really wake her kid up at sunrise just for a freaking picnic??
I have three young children. Trust me, they wake me up at sunrise, not the other way around. 🙂
It wasn’t Charlize and Sean waking anyone up LOL.
I’m impressed that the adults were alert enough to want to go hiking. At that hour of the morning, I was plopping my kids in front of the TV and trying to remember how to work the coffee maker.
What I don’t get is this woman had the nerve to go and film a screaming child? Why record that? What I think really happened is that this woman started filming Jackson knowing darn well Charlize would go into full mama bear protective mode. She wanted something to sell to the tabloids, when she could not get anything worth recording went to the police instead. Charlize is not one of my favorite actresses but I don’t think anyone can fault her for protecting her child.
I totally agree with your assessment. If any stranger dared to film my child at any time I would freak out.
I could totally see this happening people will do ANYTHING for some cash.
I’m thinking someone saw $$ and that’s why they started to film. Not a fan of hers butnCharlize did the right thing. Stop what you’re doing and give the kid a time out right where you are. The worst thing to do is to wait because kids have short attention spans
Agreed, not a fan. She was TOTALLY in the right. That woman should not have been filming at all. If you think there’s a problem call the police don’t film it.
I could deal with my tantrumy toddler just fine but all the judgmental people with their great advice and their firm belief that “if he was their kid he wouldn’t behave that way”, oh how I would have loved to punch them right in their faces ….
Plus 1000.
I once judged my sister and a friend. I then had no kids. I take it all back.
Yeah, I can’t stand the judgmental people. It’s not just people who don’t have kids either. Some parents think because their child acts in a certain way, that everyone’s child should. When I hear a child having a tantrum or acting out when I’m with my kids, I will secretly think “thank goodness that is not my kid” but I would never say anything.
You’re so right – it’s being judgmental, not merely that people who don’t have kids are clueless. It gets pretty tiresome reading that “oh non-parents just don’t get it”. Plenty of non-parents have spent LOTS of time around kids and are familiar with the best and worst of kids’ behavior.
@jc126 : so true.
And I’m a judgmental being. I would not side eye or blame a parent for giving their child the silent treatment when he’s having a tantrum, because I firmly believe that not giving is responsible and because it is effective. I do how ever, mostly with my inside voice, despise parents who scream, threaten or insult the kid. Yes it is humiliating and yes children are often -more often than not – frustrating. So what ? kids are kids and kids cries and throw tantrums. Having a hissing fit does not help, it does not calm the kid and it does not give a good example.
I’m a non-parent but I get it. I help raised my little brother, I’m twelve years older and did everything but nurse him while my mom was holding down two jobs to make ends meet. I also babysat my sister’s first child every weekend when she had to work. Kids throw tantrums. It’s a fact of life. I swear they also don’t sleep for the first couple years of their lives. To every parent out there you have my sympathy and my understanding.
@Jen: I haven’t lived there for 20yrs so I’m rusty on how Daylight Savings Time affects the West Coast. But here in Michigan my kids get up hours before sunrise. They eat breakfast when it’s still quite dark. It’s also dark by 5:30pm so they eat dinner after dark, too. It sucks.
how old are they? School age is different (I say this as I’m sitting near Lansing with a three year old who doesn’t wake up before 8 usually)
@Carrie: I’m in Grand Rapids. 🙂 My oldest is 6 & in 1st grade. His alarm clock goes off at 6:45am. My younger two will be 4 and 2 in a few weeks. If I’m lucky they sleep in until 7:15am on the weekends!
This woman sounds like a jerk, she knew what would happen when she started filming the child. I don’t care for Charlize or Sean but I’m on their side here. Kids throw tantrums, mind your business and keep moving if you see one, and don’t glare or roll your eyes at the parent, it doesn’t help, we know it’s annoying!
‘Sunrise hike’ and he’s three. There is your problem.
True!
Yes, the problem is all 4 of my kids were up by sunrise. I think a sunrise hike would be an awesome way to greet the day. And people, I’m sure they had the kid in a freaking child carrier, not hiking trails in Timberlands (although I had my kids walking to school a mile there and back by 3).
At that age, my son was up and rolling by sunrise. Every single day. If anyone was going to have a tantrum from being up way too early it was me.
Ha! Feel you on that one.
This. I actually set my clock on the weekends by my daughter waking up, she’s never up later than 7:30 (except when I’m NOT home for some unfathomable reason, she sleeps in with EVERYone else). So when ppl ask if I can do this, or that, or be here by 9, at first i’m like “NOOOO I dont want to get moving on the weekend until 10 or 11” until I remember little Naye is up and rolling by 8, so might as well. She’s 4 and I’m still not used to it lol.
Honestly, I think it’s a good thing the person started filming in case there was something wrong. If it went to trial, there would be film evidence to show what was happening. Had people been able to film my father during the rare times he whipped or “disciplined” me and my siblings outside of our home, he would’ve gone to jail. As it was, people just stared with their mouths open and never spoke of it if they were family friends or relatives.
I do agree that the person should’ve left – as they did – but question whether the tantrum was bad enough to call the cops. A shrieking child can be listened to in order to see if it’s something the parent did or not, and whether that warrants intervention. Just being put in time out should sound very different than a child being abused.
I painfully agree with you. As someone with a past of domestic abuse, I’d have appreciated so much if someone would have had the nerve of filming the abuser and call the cops. But as usual, nobody does anything thinking “it’s not my problem”.
I understand that being this about two celebrities that woman might have had other reasons to film. But being one of the celebrities a well known abuser Penn maybe the woman’s first thought was just doing the right thing under those circumstances.
All I can think looking at these pics is that Charlize should take Sean to toupee shopping because he doesn’t seems to find the right one hair piece
I, too, am a survivor of domestic abuse, and I totally disagree. It’s one thing if someone witnesses, say, your BF slapping you in the face and doesn’t call the cops. (This happened to me in a mall.) Ok, that’s just wrong. But with screaming…you never know. My husband and I have “loud” fights, and I tend to yell and scream, but that’s honestly because I have a low frustration tolerance which makes me act like a baby at times. Our ffights are never about anything serious (usually about division of chores bc he is LAZY) and never physical, but it could sometimes SOUND that way because I’m yelling. Unfortunately there are some gray areas and to me this is one of them-no one witnessed Jackson being hurt or even being yelled at. They just heard screaming.
I have mixed feelings. It sounds like the woman was a busybody and a nut and should have been able to determine that the child was just having a tantrum and not being hurt. But if she really had some reason to think he was being kidnapped or physically abused, she did the right thing. We don’t know what really happened.
Yeah it’s not cut and dry.
I DO think people need to step back and not be so damn judgy of moms. All the damn time. Moms need to do what they feel is best.
That being said I don’t believe time outs are healthy. I don’t believe a 3 year old is capable of reflecting on his behavior in a way as to be disciplined— I think it can shame and humiliate and or scare a child. And if they were on a hike perhaps he was fearful they would abandon him? Perhaps – since he is adopted and they travel a lot- perhaps he has specific anxiety about abandonment?
I just don’t agree with time outs. I think when kids act out they need connection not isolation.
That’s how I feel but I’m not judging all you moms who feel differently. I have found with my daughter that connecting (“connect with respect” from happiest toddler on the block) really does ease the tantrum.
That all being said, we don’t know all the details and I hope for the boy’s sake that Charlize is a loving patient mother who puts him first (over Sean) and that he is safe and loved.
Oh, definitely, the judgment put on mothers is just terrible.
I think timeouts work for some kids and not others. It works for mine because he needs to be taken out of the situation and out of the way of stimulation. Trying to connect with him when he’s in a state like that doesn’t work. It’s just like an adult taking a breather or counting to 10. I wait to reconnect with him after he’s calmed down. Then he’s able to listen and comprehend what I’m saying to him.
Regarding the situation with Charlize– you can listen to a child for a minute or two, generally, and determine if they are in distress. No need to jump in unless there is physical or verbal abuse going on or the parent simply isn’t there.
I’m glad the lady got involved. It’s better to be safe than sorry. There are too many examples of varying degrees of abuse that kids are being subjected to by their own parents. I am glad people aren’t just turning a blind eye when they see something that is suspect. There are way too many crappy parents out there for people to assume the difference between a kid being in time out for having a tantrum and abuse. Children have been abused/killed for much less.
Wow, I totally agree with you. To many people see or hear children screaming and turn a blind eye, or deaf ear and later found out they should have called 911 to check out the situation. It’s better be safe than be sorry.
I agree with you too. It may have been nothing in this case (thankfully, for Jackson) but that isn’t always true and kids are abused everyday and usually people around them do nothing.
Turning a blind eye? So every person that sees a kid crying and throwing a fit should call the police? The woman saw him crying that’s it. She didn’t see him being hit. She didn’t see any bruises. They weren’t were yelling at him. If you see a child being hit or mistreated then by all means do something ,but don’t assume something is wrong because a child is crying. That’s what they do. This woman didn’t err on the side of caution. It sounds like she was being a busybody and overreacting.
Have you been a mother? You can’t call the police every time you see a child throwing a tantrum. If that were the case, the police would never have time for anything else. I really think this woman was just offended when Charlize told her to stay away from her child.
Charlize was probably very hostile to the woman and that’s what caused her to think something was up. As we all know, Char is not the kindest. Yes, the woman was wrong for stepping on their personal time, but as a celebrity, you’ve just got to find a nice way to say, “step off.”
Reading that CT can be a B Im thinking she was not very dismissive of the woman and that probably what caused this woman to take out her phone camera. I’m thinking if we hear the woman side of this story it would be very different than the side we have been fed by CT and SP’s people.
My opinion, too. It sounds lie the woman didn’t initially see Theron, & I can see filming just to cover your own liability if things go awry.
Also, I think it’s bloody selfish of Theron to take the kid on an early morning hike. People were out there for quiet and nature, and didn’t want to see or hear a child being a brat.
WOW. I’m a staunch no-kids person and even I find your comment offensive. It’s one thing to bring a baby into a fancy restuarant or a movie, but now parents can’t even take their kids out in nature because it’s “selfish?”
SMH
Meh. I’ve got 2. I do not believe their needs or interests trump those of others — especially adults. It’s called “not raising entitled assholes.”
That’s ridiculous. It’s not like taking a child to a play or a movie. Nobody expects silence on a hiking trail.
The only thing I can think is the EPIC bitchface of Charlize after having realized there was a woman filming her child.
I would have freaked out too.
Lol, I would have it myself in time out too.
Sunrise picnic? I’d throw a tantrum too….
I think filming someone’s child having a tantrum is a little much. The important thing to take away from this is that Sean Penn was there and no harm came to the person filming the child. He’s a changed man. Or medicated.
Exactly. There had to have been SOME kind of interaction between them or we would be hearing a much different story..a more confrontational one at that .this story, the woman very passive aggressively went to the cops after the fact.
I’m on Charlize’s side. Dear God, the tantrums a child that age can throw and certain children with different temperaments more than others. Never judge. Your next child might be far different than the first if you have an easy child who didn’t throw temper tantrums in inopportune places the first go-round.
It´s astonishing how often strangers on the street think they have the right to critic your parenting, but the same people look away when their neighbors or family members abuse children.
I think perhaps the other part that people aren’t talking about is this was a black child with two white adults. My kids are all different races and I am white. Literally every single time I have had to discipline them in public (whether it’s putting them in a time out or removing their treat from the cart or whatever – never anything physical) I am asked at least once if those are really my kids.
Yeah, but there is little doubt in my mind that this lady knew she was looking at Sean Penn and Charlize Theron.
But she may not have known Charlize has an adopted child.
Yup, Kait you said what I was thinking….
Film my child and the cops may be called, but for different reasons.
My eldest was the guru of kiddy tantrums. I remember her throwing one at five because we wouldn’t buy her a cupcake at her school sports day. When we were trying to move her away from public viewing and get her to stop her crazy behaviour I was surprised no one was calling the cops. Not because of our behaviour but because of her reaction. So I feel sympathy for any parent dealing with a tantruming child. Thankfully mine has grown out of the phase and my three year old doesn’t chuck it like her sister did.
Was Jackson with his CT when she was away for months making her last movie with SP? I saw several photos of CT and SP returning to LA a few days ago and Jackson was not in any of those photos. If his mom had left him home for several months, I’m thinking Jackson might be angry with his mom for leaving him for a long time and was showing his feelings of feeling abandoned. I hope she had her child with her when she was in South Africa with that grumpy looking boyfriend.
I’m pretty sure I saw pics of Jackson in South Africa, I don’t think she would leave her son for that long.
Yes, there are several sets of pictures of Jackson with Charlize on set in South Africa. Her mom is basically his nanny.
Ok, this is what I think happened. Woman heard the kid screaming bloody murder as lots of tantruming kids do. So she goes over to aks if everything is ok, and charlize and Sean turn on her like the snarling, rabid dogs that they are. Because of their anti-social behaviour the woman assumes there is something wrong, and calls the police – perhaps even for her own protection. They lash out at her, possibly threaten her, so she starts to film them to have a record of what is happening if it does indeed escalate. Cops show up, get starstruck and ask for photos then go on their way. Then charlize or Sean’s pr people release this story to the press.
Please remember who we are talking about here, you have to expect the very worst from these people.
“Charlize and Sean were having a sunrise picnic when a female hiker with a camera stopped after she heard Charlize’s 2-year-old son Jackson screaming in a tantrum. The hiker went towards the child and started filming.”
So no. She just started filming without talking to Theron and Penn first. Who does that? Really, who whips out their cellphone and starts filming when they think a child is in danger?
Why should I expect the worst? Just because I’m not a fan of Penn and Charlize doesn’t seem like to type to sign an autograph does not automatically mean that they are abusive parents. If fact, I’ve never heard a rumor saying that they are anything but good, involved parents to Jackson.
But kitten, where is this story coming from? The claim that a woman just started filming the kid smells like bullshit because it probably is.
I think Captain hero is saying that when the woman confronted Charlize and Sean about Jackson screaming and was trying to find out what was wrong, they reacted in a nasty way and possibly started yelling and things got hostile. The lady whips out her camera and starts filming Jackson to show to the cops to “prove” her story, I suppose. I think that is a likely scenario. I would not like if some rando woman was filming my child, but I have a strong feeling a lot happened before the filming. I’m not blaming Charlize for being a B and telling the woman to mind her own beeswax, but she doesn’t have the reputation for being the nicest person so I could see that situation getting hostile really quickly.
I just get incredibly frustrated when people’s hatred for a celeb overrides common sense and objectivity.
It’s also nuts the judgments that people are making on these two as parents simply based on one innocuous story.
Sounds about right to me Captain Hero. This feels like damage control pr from her camp.
Charlize seems icy. And Sean? Hmmm.
I am loathe to be a judgy mom to another mom without knowing the whole story though.
And my top priority is always the safety and loving care of the child.
But, again, we can only speculate.
@Peppa— that’s exactly what I think went down. The most likely story of events. She probably asked if everything was OK and they were @holes and things escalated
I had a “well meaning” neighbor (who I hadn’t met) call military family advocacy on me because my 6 year old daughter told her (there was a mutual child the known by the neighbor’s daughter and my daughter) I fed her dog food. Because it came at the end of the summer and my daughter ran around base housing getting hot, sweaty and grimy (like I did as a kid), she reported me. Without Informing us of the complaint first, the military notified the county who paid surprise visits to all 3 of my kids at school. Then they called me at work and my husband to tell us to meet the, at our home ASAP. Luckily for us, these weren’t over zealous investigators who quickly ascertained there was nothing to it but a kid who said goofy things because of her age and a busybody. They flat out told us that they expected to see our daughter looking like she was raised by wolves–instead she was a happy, well fed, well dressed, well groomed child. It made me tremendously suspicious of neighbors and a bit paranoid though as being accused, even if unfounded, is frightening and could have really hurt my husband’s career as we had to clear 2 governmental agencies based on one lady’s claims.
I can’t understand why any woman with more than two brain cells would want to be with Sean Penn.
It’s kind of disheartening to me to see so many posters assume that this unknown woman was just a busy body who should mind her own business. Really? Maybe this woman DOES have her own children and she CAN tell that magical difference between a child throwing a tantrum vs. something that needs a bit of further looking into. There is zero proof that this woman was some loony tunes stalker, in fact according to the story she left and called the police herself. And I myself would be hard pressed to identify CT or just about any female celeb out on some hiking trail at sunrise most likely wearing the celebrity uniform of hat and sunglasses. Not everyone is a fan, not everyone cares about filming a famous person.
It’s better to do something about what seems like a bad situation and be wrong nine out of ten times, than to have had your instincts be correct and NOT do anything.
I’d get your point if it wasn’t because her first reaction was to film the kid. If you truly believe a child is in danger, that is not the first thing you do.
Odd story. This woman hears a screaming child at ‘sunrise’ on a hiking trail so she whips out the camera phone (possible evidence) and goes toward the screaming, where she’s prevented from getting closer by a pissed off woman and disreputable looking old dude. It doesn’t sound like she recognized them. And it’s not clear she ever got close enough to see the kid was actually ok. Also 2 white adults with a black child. So she erred on the side of safety by calling the cops. Good for her, she did the right thing by trying to prevent a possible crime, even if it turned out to be nothing.
She knew them enough to give a story to tmz.
A toddler throwing a tantrum? What else is new? I feel sorry for Charlize because anyone who has been a parent knows what it’s like. I really believe when Charlize told this woman who was filming her child to leave him alone she just got mad and retaliated by calling the cops. I can’t stand busybodies like that. And another thing, if a man came up and filmed a child, people would say he was creepy.
This story sounds fishy all around. I just hope Jackson is alright.
This Toot. This.
They dragged that poor kid out of his warm bed for a sunrise picnic? Sunrise in California is a bit after 7am, so he was probably sleepy, and wanted to crawl back into bed. Why not let the nanny take care of him if they wanted to go out this early?
Google “reasons my son is crying”. It’s hysterical. As I don’t have kids yet, it made me have a little more respect for parents.
That was so funny. I saw it a while back and my favorite was the one where he was crying because he asked for some cereal and they gave him some cereal. Lol
That part about giving him the wrong juice box absolutely cracked me up, because my son actually threw a tantrum about that once! As a mother of two, I can say they can find the craziest reasons to meltdown. I remember yelling at my mom when I was about 5 because the cable was out (I still feel guilty about that lol). Team Charlize on this one.
We don’t know what happened,we don’t know what CT said to her son or to the woman.I called a store manager when I heard a child crying and the mother saying to Me.”He is crying because I slapped the Sh## out of him because I told him to hurry up”.The manager spoke to her and asked her to leave the store.
I pray that she she didn’t continue hitting him after leaving the store.I don’t think I did enough to protect that child.I still feel guilty about this.I did not see her slap him but she told me she slapped him.He was about three years old.
As I said we don’t know the full story.
If I came away from an encounter with genuine fear for a child, I’d get the kid help as soon as humanly possible. I don’t like kids and avoid them if I can, so I’ll admit don’t have a ton of experience in knowing tantrum scream from a trouble scream. But you know what? I can assess the scene around the kid and use my best judgement; if there’s really something wrong the kid being loud isn’t going to be the only sign. I would never call the fuzz on someone ’cause their kid doing what kids do, that’s just dense. Someone whose first reaction is to come at the kid recording everything is *not* worried about the kid’s safety.
I remember one time I was in a check out line, and my toddler started freaking the hell out. I had my groceries half on the conveyer belt, had more to unpack, and my son was screaming and thrashing and everyone was staring. I was just about in tears, and this strange lady just walked up to me…
…and started helping me unload my groceries so I could tend to my child! THAT is how deal with a mom and screaming child.
Amen to that lady.
That is awesome.
Yes. Amen. I was on a plane and my toddler wouldn’t stop crying. A grandma gave him a stick of gum. Crying stopped. I don’t take advantage of “it takes a village” so when I receive kindness I’m genuinely surprised. Most people are judgy a holz.
I’ve done a lot of flying with my kids, starting at 3 months old each. Best advice I ever got was “feed them on the way up, feed them on the way down”. Their ears don’t equalize the different air pressure like older children and adults do and the poor little beggars are in pain!
For the life of me, I do not understand why the airlines don’t automatically give out this info to people travelling with small children. Mine have never cried on a plane once, thanks to that one kind person who passed along a very good piece of advice.
So you’re saying that the woman should have started dry humping on Penn so Charlize could take care or her son instead?
The caller was in the wrong, for sure. I’m of the opinion that time outs for really young children don’t work but he seems old enough for them.
A nosy busybody who was probably pissed at Charlize that she couldn’t film rather than actually care about the child’s welfare.
a family sunrise picnic at Vasquez Rocks? That sounds wonderful. Toddlers are early birds and it sounds sweet that they make such things as family (plus dogs).
Seriously i never would have guessed that Charlize and Penn do such things. In my mind they sit at home looking bitchy 😉
I bet… I’m being really cynical here, but I bet that woman started filming because she saw a celebrity in a situation that the tabloids might like to see.
And Charlize told the woman to keep the hell away from her kid, because boundaries and random people filming an underage child, hello.
And the woman got pissy about being told to act like a decent human being to her fellow human beings and called the cops in retaliation.
I thought the hiker did that Bread and Circuses.
An alternate theory I think could be at play is you know how nosy people can be and now they have cell phones they can use to film people anywhere at anytime. The hiker films the “abuse” and then, takes the film to the police thinking she’s done justice to the child. Only, this time there wasn’t any abuse and the hiker was just a nosy nancy who needed to mind her own beeswax.
Someone calls the cops on Charlize about her kid throwing a tantrum… and yet, child protective services doesn’t seem too concerned about Honey Boo Boo cuddling in a bed with a convicted child rapist!! I don’t get it.
Never assume anything about a toddler temper tantrum, unless it’s your own child. Even then, there are exceptions. My granddaughter threw such epic tantrums they can’t even be described. Her first time parents didn’t know what to make of it, but, I felt something was wrong. We took her to doctors, but, she never threw a tantrum in any doctors office. It was explained to us as ‘terrible twos’. Finally, she threw a fit in the pharmacy of our small town. The pharmacist came out and looked at her eyes and told us to take her to a children’s hospital, that day. We did. We drove nearly 100 miles to get there. Turned out she has Chiari, a condition where her lower brain was being pushed into her spine. Three very serious brain surgeries later, she is alive and well. You just never know sometimes. It’s too easy to make judgements.
LOL. I wonder how that hiker would react if she were transported back in time to when I was a kid in the seventies and eighties? Back then, it was normal to see a parent give a child three warnings to stop a behavior and then if the warnings weren’t heeded, smack their child in the grocery store aisle in full view of everyone. Back then, no one said anything about it.
And the kids grew up much better behaved than they are now. I remember seeing a seven year old having a meltdown at an amusement park because he wanted another toy that his parents refused to buy him. His dad finally turned him upside down and smacked his little butt. None of the bystanders called CPS. The brat was asking for it.
I’ve been hiking at Vasquez Rocks before and I can honestly say… If I heard a young toddler screaming I would approach & investigate too. If the parents told me to back off & not get close enough to the child to see what’s going on – I would call the cops too. Who knows what could have happened and if the parents don’t want anyone seeing what’s going on….that’s a red flag to me. Now had the adults (Charlize & Sean) TOLD the hiker the child was in a time-out, I’m sure it all would have ended there.
As for making a video recording of the event, it’s not what I would do before investigating. But at Vasquez Rocks there could have been a rattlesnake bite, rock slide causing injury, child falling down a steep end of these rock formations, coyote or other animal attacks, etc.
Better to be safe than sorry.
“But at Vasquez Rocks there could have been a rattlesnake bite, rock slide causing injury, child falling down a steep end of these rock formations, coyote or other animal attacks, etc.
Better to be safe than sorry. ” But you’d think that adults with the child would have already called for helped or would be looking for injuries.
And Charlize telling the women to get away from Jackson doesn’t raise red flags because, as already mentioned, do you really want a strange person approaching your child? Whether or not you’re a celeb?
It’d be one thing if the child were obviously injured or parents were indicating something was wrong and you mention that you can help with this. There is no indication of this whatsoever.
It just seems weird that strangers think they’re entitled to know what’s going on within a family unit when they’re in public. They weren’t hitting the kid, the kid didn’t appear injured just cranky. What on earth is strange about a cranky kid that warrants such attention? Not to mention in a lot of cases this could lead to ongoing and unwarranted attention from authorities that upsets the family and damages the kid way more than his timeout may have.
I’m all for child protection but my god we’ve become a bunch of busybodies.
A two year old is pretty young to really attempt to discipline as such. Still a baby really. How does one even give a time out on a hike? Hopefully it’s all just a misunderstanding.
As for tantrums, there are a lot of judgey people on here. My autistic son occasionally has a meltdown (which can induced by unexpected things). Yes it is awful, but he is not giving ME (or you, stranger in a shopping mall) a hard time, he is HAVING a hard time. And yes I have to go out in public sometimes, it is simply unavoidable. You can’t lock your child in the attic because his crying might inconvenience someone. When you see a child having a full on tantrum try to consider that maybe that mother is just trying to get him and herself through that day. You don’t know what they are necessarily dealing with. Have some empathy.
The terrible twos are called that for a reason 😉
When I see a child having a tantrum, i think back to what would kick of my kids at that age.
“I want candy”…no
“I want Fruit loops”…no
And the worst is at the checkout, where they shuttle you through the lane which is filled with nothing but chocolate and sugar and you stand there waiting your turn. And they do THAT on purpose.
My kid had a tantrum year. Between three and four. I never EVER gave in. I never once gave her what she was screaming for, but she would throw herself on the ground and scream things like, “Why do you hate me?” Yeah. That was fun.
She was a tenacious and very bright kid (still is), and she had a LOT of trouble developing self-control over frustration. She has gotten very good at it now, but that tantrum phase of hers scarred me for life. I was terrified, absolutely terrified, to go anywhere with her. I had to buy toilet paper and bread, sometimes, though…so I did.
Children are all different, and I have never been a pushover mom. I have always been very firm with my kid because her personality as a toddler and young child demanded it. She has grown into a young lady I am so proud for. So don’t assume that just because YOUR kids never had a tantrum phase that you’re just a magnificent parent. You got lucky. The end.
Be nice to mothers who are dealing with a kid who’s acting like a brat from Hades. They need the kindness. Unless they’re cursing at their kids or hitting them…assume they’re doing the best they can in that moment. You have no idea what they’ve been dealing with all day, and every mother has a frayed end at the bottom of her rope.
What a good post. My dearest friend has always been opinionated and she is even at the navy and bosses around some people including her husband, but…
she has had a terrible time with her child, who I think has gotten better, sill bratty, but slightly better, but when younger could scream bloody murder for block and blocks if his parents did not cater to his needs, she and him usually ended both in tears, she tried everything and nothing seemed to work. I was in pain when I visited her, I still cannot get myself to go.
A lot of ppl are commenting like the woman knew he was in a time out. I’m imagining walking up on a kid screaming crying and being ignored on the outskirts of a family. Then Charlize responding with her infamous nastiness. The woman may have jumped the gun but it probably did look concerning. I’m all for timeouts but I’d rather it be looked into than be ignored
I hate people who see something happening and they stop to film. WTH is wrong with people now! The other day, there was a car accident on my street and people just ran out with their iphones to film instead of contributing or leave. Our society has lost its soul.
Nothing ticks me off more than a do-gooding buttinsky. And that’s what this woman was. It doesn’t matter whether or not this woman realized the child was just having a tantrum for having been put in “time out”. Unless she saw Charlize actually striking the child, she should have minded her own business.
Having successfully raised one son and as the grandmother of an adorable 5 year old who is the joy of my life, I can say without reservation that there are times when nothing works better on a child throwing a tantrum than a good swat on the butt.