Liv Tyler was photographed trying to help a crying toddler that was being yelled at by a woman who looks like she could be her grandmother yesterday. Tyler bent over and tried to comfort the little girl when the woman angrily told her it was none of her business. She then went to her car and possibly called the cops. Here’s the description from the photo agency:
Liv Tyler threatens to call the police after witnessing a woman on Santa Monica Boulevard yelling at a crying baby in a stroller. Liv checks the little girl to make sure that she is ok and then walks over to her car to dial 911 after the woman tells her that this is none of her business in Los Angeles, California.
[From INFPhoto.com photo description via Radar Online]
I was once behind a woman in line at Babies ‘R Us who was completely ignoring her screaming newborn. The infant sounded in such distress and everyone was trying to say soothing things to the baby. I wanted to pick up the baby and comfort it but I resisted. The woman was buying formula and she totally laughed and shrugged it off. My husband and I found it really disturbing. Usually I don’t butt in when other people are with their kids but your first instinct is to protect children when you witness something like that. When you see someone screaming at an innocent child you want to intervene, especially if you’re a mom like Liv and can imagine someone doing that to your child. Good for her for trying to do something about it. If this was a grandmother or a babysitter maybe the child’s parents will see these pictures and make sure that they get someone else to watch their little girl.
Liv Tyler has been photographed outside the gym quite a bit lately. I don’t want to give that scam artist Tracey Anderson any publicity, but Tyler has been been attending classes at the pint-sized self-promoter’s LA studio. Whatever works, I guess. Tyler is looking great, but she always does.
Come on, Ned.
Liv is gorgeous.
Can see her point – it does worry me when I hear babies wailing uncontrollably but equally I can feel the pain of mothers who have a crying colicky baby who won’t settle and probably hasn’t settled for days and some bright spark in the shops stops her and says ‘awwww she’s upset, she’s crying’…no sh1t, genius.
i’m with Liv. Granny yelling at an already crying toddler is apt to be hitting the kid when nobody’s looking.
can we get a toddler behavior expert to tell us how to best deal with a colicky baby? surely yelling is not the way.
that baby must feel so unloved. hope the parents see Granny for who she is — a tyrant — and kick her to the curb when she offers to take baby for a stroll or even gets near the kid.
what a pity.
Liv Tyler has always seemed like a decent, kind person. What’s more, she seems like a *real* person–even looks real–and that’s pretty rare in hollywood. What an unfortunate episode.
Good for her for actually stopping to make sure everything was ok. We have a very “not my problem” society.
When my cousin was a toddler, her grandmother had her in WalMart, and she was screaming repeatedly “You’re not my mommy.” Not one person stopped to make sure everything was ok. Now, I understand that children scream and throw tantrums, but you’d think someone would have stopped to find out what was going on.
thanks for not promoting that other one
I like Liv.
I once stepped between a Mom and the 3 poor children she was swinging wildly on. When the cops came they said I was in the wrong. WTF? I just felt so bad. All instict jumping between the mom & kids. I considered it for like half a second. But after the cops let her and the kids go, I just cried. I was so afraid of what they got when they got home. That would have been indirectly my fault for making the mom that much madder….
I think we’ve all yelled at a crying kid. Heck I’ll probably do it later today. “Stop Crying” That’s not a baby in the stroller. So I reserve judgement on this one.
If somebody dare telling me how to parent my kids, what to do and what not to, I’d scream at her too. And you know what? I think *you* girls would scream at her as well. It sounds like Liv is “nice” because that woman wasn’t you and that baby wasn’t yours. It’s perfectly ok to let your newborn cry it out. It’s called a parenting style… just because LT doesn’t agree with it, it doesn’t mean she has the right to butt it.
Another reason to like and respect Liv!
yah, this is pretty inappropriate in my opinion. that toddler or 3 or 4 year old looks like she/he is throwing a fit, squirming, trying to wriggle around in the stroller, etc. and was getting yelled at. as we discussed yesterday about spanking, there is a reason why we have entitled narcissistic brats as gen Y and X. im sure liv never yells at her child. but its none of her business if someone else does. there is a very wide range of acceptable parenting/grandparenting behaviors, and yelling at your toddler isnt illegal. she needed to mind her own entitled business. not everything is the set of a movie.
@ Rosanna: Flipping heck, you must breed them big if you think that child is a newborn!!!!
Good on Liv – a bully is a bully, whether it’s a parent or grandparent.
I’m not a parent, but letting a kid cry themselves out is vastly different from yelling at them to stop crying. I don’t have kids because I’m someone who does want to yell at screaming kids to shut the fuck up already. And I know I wouldn’t be a very good parent because of that.
I stepped in at a local grocery store one time when I saw a mother continually smack her little girl of about 3 or 4. I told the “mom” if she laid another hand on the girl I was going to do it to her and see how she liked to be hit and humiliated in public. Probably not the high road to take but I was furious. The “mom” started screaming at me and the store manager told me that I had to leave because I was causing a scene. I told the manager about the person hitting the child and he said their store policy doesn’t allow for them to step in but I could leave the store and call 911 if I wanted to. If family members do this to kids in public, think about what the poor kids go through in private. Kudos to Liv.
I’m with you Rosanna. We have a whole new generation of MTV moms whose style of parenting reflects their permissive and entitled upbringing. It’s kind of annoying to see people butt in with opinions on how to raise YOUR child. Children are notoriously difficult. Some just cry for no reason. And since kids aren’t exactly rational, you can’t judge someone as a good or bad parent based on their child’s behavior. I’ve seen many good parents struggle with difficult kids. The last thing they need is some know-it-all soccer mom assuming the worst about them.
I love Liv, think she’s gorgeous and a genuinely nice person but this was an overreaction for sure and calling the police (if she did that) was outrageous. I don’t blame the grumpy grandma in the least for telling her to butt out and mind her own business.
She seriously needs to mind her own damn business. Who does she think she is anyway? I am glad that old woman put her in her place!
i read elsewhere on this story that the “grandmother” of that child was slapping/spanking her on the stomach AND yelling for her to stop crying. I would step in for that and applaud Liv for doing the same. Anything other than a light tap on the bum or the hand is out of line to me. But i have no children of my own, and I probably would go off on someone if they told me how to parent my child. On the fence on this one, because i don’t know the whole situation.
Good for you Shelly! I don’t think I could stand around and watch that either. Everyone is right, it IS none of my business, but ‘everyone’ felt the same way when Rodney King was getting the sh1t kicked out of him. Absolutely no one stepped in to save that man – a grown man. I could never stand by and watch a grown up bully a child – just because the grown up is the child’s parent, doesn’t make a bully acceptable. Sometimes a person’s rage is just out of control and a ‘check’ doesn’t hurt.
Having said that, I’ve been pretty annoyed at my kids at one time or another in public – although I would never abuse them. However, if someone stepped into my heated conversation with my kids in public, they would do so at their own risk.
calling the police? give me an effing break!
poking a tiger with a short stick gets the same results
M.Y.O.B call the cops and run
Lem and Shelley – It sucks that you were ostracized for stepping in on the behalf of children. You both did the right thing.
kerry: ITA. Its even more annoying when the advice comes from people that don’t even have kids.
I wasn’t there but I don’t blame her one bit for saying something. I do get quite irritated when I receive the message from people that they know how better to raise my children (and I notice most of those people have no children of their own). However, I give her the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes people step way over the line and probably could use some perspective. I could be wrong but it sounds like she was trying to talk to the child, which sounds like she was gently trying to calm the situation rather than full on confront the grandmother (grandfather?). Sounds like it escalated a bit from there with the child’s caretaker ranting and raving at her.
Unfortunately it does happen that someone goes over the line in public with their child. Even more unfortunate is the fact that if this was happening in public, it is quite likely that even worse is happening in private.
Just a thought here, but has anyone ever noticed that there is never a concerned bystander there to intervene when the 5 or 6 year old is telling the mother to shut up or completely showing out in public. Obviously if a parent is giving in and buying there bratty child ice cream or candy to keep them quiet and accepting completely rude behavior there is some bad parenting going on.
However, I have never seen anyone go up to a parent of that child and tell them that they are doing their child a diservice for the rest of their life by allowing them to behave that way.
@Kerry and Rosanna
Its interesting to me that the parents who scream at their children and smack them when they arn’t acting like perfect little angels always use the “Don’t you tell me how to raise MY child” line. Oh, so since you gave birth to it, you clearly know whats best, yes? A child is not your property to do with what you wish. Just because its your child doesnt mean you know the first thing about rasing it. Letting a baby cry it out probably is just fine, but yelling and hitting is another story. Good for all of the people who step in when they see abuse.
The old woman in the photo looks crazy . A witch. I think Liv did the right thing. Nice girl.
IA, kelly.
On another site the woman was said to be hitting the child, not a tap, actually hitting the child in the chest. If that is the case I would call the cops and say something. If the child was throwing a fit and being fussed at, maybe a tap then good for the adult handling the situation in their method.
I’m not sure whether Liv should get a pat on the back or be told to mind her own business since I don’t know which story is true.
Actually, I once say a very tired mom attempting to calm her 5(maybe 6, I am not sure) year old down. The kid was screaming and aggressively hitting her mom while waiting in a check out line.
I looked at the child and said”hey what do you think you are doing.?” the kid looked at me , stunned and stopped smacking her mom. Yes people do sometimes step in when a child is clearly abusing the parent. However it is not often that you are in that scenario.
I have found that yelling at my toddler does little to calm the situation. And the times that I have yelled at him, I felt pretty crappy after I had yelled. Yelling didn’t teach him anything and didn’t help the siutation. I am the adult, how do I expect him to control himself if I can’t control myself. And it is normal for him to have a short fuse, the part of his brain that controls his response to things is not fully developed, mine is.
I would have intervened if the child was being hit- but not if someone was just yelling. That’s not a baby- she looks to be 2 or 3. As a mom of a 3-year-old I know all too well how they can push your buttons. It’s still not a good thing to lose control and yell, but certainly not anybody else’s business.
Scotchy,
I personally am in the scenerio of a parent giving in to their bratty kids everytime I go to the grocery store. I personally would not intervene because it is not worth it. The kid goes home and continues to be spoiled so what is the point.
I only brought that up to make the point that we all watch bad parenting everyday and in my opinion yelling at a child at the top of your lungs is no better or worste than giving in to them.
ARG, I yelled at my kid (age eight) at the post office after she had been super naughty (mean to her sister, threw pens on the ground, then refused to give me the other pens in her hand, starting SCREAMING when I took the pens from her–our rule is if you throw it, it is taken away–and then physically resisting getting into the car so I had to kind of drag her along by the wrist). I shouldn’t have lost my temper, but I did, and as we were pulling away in the car a guy ran in front of us, wrote down our license plates, told me that I was abusing my child and that he was calling the authorities. Now, I can apologize to my daughter for yelling at her (and I did) and calmly discuss both her and my bad behavior later at home, but I can’t undo the terror this guy put into my kids. They were so afraid of police that for weeks they would duck down if they saw a police car go by. And you know, I am sure it looked bad, this kid SCREAMING at the top of her lungs as I pulled her along to our parked car, but if I was abusing my daughter then everyone has abused their kids — I don’t know anyone who has never lost their temper. Being in public makes it worse. That guy should have butted out, and I think most of the time most people should. When people are already upset and overwhelmed, being accused of a crime doesn’t really help diffuse the situation.
Good story texasmom!
And you know, I agree one hundred percent with the notion that we have no idea what’s going on when people react certain ways and it’s not one’s damn right to go and tell a person how to raise their child.
I don’t have children of my own, but when I do? I’ll be damned if I let someone tell me how to raise him/her. I have to go home with that kid, you don’t. So pardon me if I don’t want some entitled little OC brat who demands Abercrombie clothes and Coach purses.
Similar thing happened to me at the dog park, with my dog happily barking (it’s a corgi thing) and this woman turns and yells at my dog to “SHUTUP” and then has the audacity to tell me where I can find Caesar Milan on basic cable. All the while HER dog (a boxer) was snapping at this little puppy.
i don’t think this is a black & white situation. the kid is at least 2 and probably throwing a tantrum – that is different from a crying baby. if the woman was hitting the kid that is a different story, but we don’t know, and we don’t know what led up to the confrontation, so it’s hard to know if liv was right or not, though its good she was concerned. one of my nephews went through a phase when he was a toddler where he would throw god-awful tantrums in public, laying on the ground kicking and screaming, turning “jelly legs” if we tried to pick him up, etc. and it was always over something small, like he wanted another animal cracker or whatever. it was horrible and humiliating and my sister got told off a couple of times, even though she is a great mother and my nephew eventually grew out of it. maybe instead of vilifying the parent we should ask if we can help, as in “you look pretty worn out…can i help?” might go over better.
Christ on a cracker! I’m getting tired of the “kids THESE days need to be put in their place” argument. Kids have been kids since the dawn of time. You people sound like you’re 90 years old. Some kids now are brats ( I believe due to decreased supervision, not a lack of spankings) and some are wonderful.
Having been someone who has called CAS on MYSELF (my daughter wouldn’t sleep,I was at wit’s end and looooosing it) I don’t understand why people are so defensive about their parenting. It’s hard work, some people need help. With my call someone came to my house within the week and worked with me for six months until we were able to get my daughter to sleep. If someone called CAS on me now, I’d welcome them into my home, give them tea, and be glad that others cared enough about my daughter to make sure I got help. I think Liv did the right thing.
I’ll be damned if someone steps in and tells me how I can or can’t, should or shouldn’t talk to my nieces. Ppl need to learn how to mind their own freaking business…Liv only stepped in cuz it was a grandma, I bet anything if it were a younger woman like myself who could handle her, she would’ve never interfered. And IF she would’ve those pix up top would’ve looked a whole lot different
@ annie: god don’t get me started on cesar milan! there is a guy at my dog park whose dog is named savannah and he constantly screams at her: “savannah! savannah!” then he does the cesar milan dog roll, the little nips with his hand, etc. all the while savannah is ignoring him and taking out her frustration on other dogs. meanwhile my mastiffs (who were trained the old-fashioned way with a clicker, treats and alot of patience) are quietly sniffing dog butts or whatever and actually come when i call them. i always want to ask this guy “so how is that cesar milan technique working out for you?” but he is enormous so i don’t dare!
“that baby must feel so unloved. hope the parents see Granny for who she is — a tyrant”
That is so RIDICULOUS! GIVE ME AN EFFIN BREAK!
That kind of strikes me as lazy parenting. Unwillingness to find ways to address the problem yourself, so you turn to CAS.
It is true that we aren’t born knowing how to raise a perfect child, but we do get vibes on what works and what doesn’t. And it’s our jobs as parents to figure out what works best for all people involved.
We’ve become so pathetic with our need for therapy and counseling and parenting classes. Any little thing we can’t handle and it’s bam! On the couch. BAM! SuperNanny.
What do you think people were doing before all this? Raising a family! And seeing has how there are what? 6 billion people on this earth? I think we’ve been doing ok.
Wif — What a great story! I didn’t know you could do that! Ironically, my kid who blew up at the post office is usually very well-behaved. My OTHER kid is the one who had epic tantrums several times a day, for many, many months. We got counseling and it helped but it almost bankrupted me (still worth every penny) but if I’d known I could call CPS on myself I could have saved a wad! It is really difficult to ask for help with parenting. I know I felt like a failure when I needed help, even though my brain knows better.
I am DEFINITELY in the “let moms handle their children and don’t butt in” camp, but when someone is YELLING at a small child in public to stop crying, I would assess the situation, too.
I saw a mom in Target once…totally at the end of her rope. Her son, a kid about 3, was crying and she was yelling at him and looked like she was about to lose it. The little kid was pitching a grand maul fit.
Now…my kid went through a tantrum phase for a year. It’s humiliating. Everyone around you assumes you don’t discipline when your kid is acting that way, and sometimes (like when your husband is in Iraq and you have no family within 1,000 miles to help), you HAVE to go buy toilet paper even if your kid is screaming.
Anyway, I walked over and placed my hand on the woman’s shoulder and said, “No one is judging you, Honey. It’s okay.” The woman burst into tears and gripped my hand for dear life. It was a bit awkward, but stepping in before she hit the kid or started full-on screaming was the right thing to do.
I don’t blame Liv Tyler or anyone else for stepping in during a moment like that.
I’ve yelled at my kid in irrational situations a few times, and I was never “in control” when those situations occurred. Whenever I find myself YELLING at my kid, I stop and make her go to her room while Mommy cools down. When I see people discipline in public who are in control, I never even consider stepping in. When I see someone out of control, I DO consider it. I’m the mother of an incredibly strong-willed and defiant child…so when I say I know what “out of control” looks like, it’s because I’ve been in those moments myself. Everyone needs help sometimes, and it’s all how you approach the parent.
I’d rather get yelled at by someone’s belligerent grandmother than stand by while a child is being mistreated. I am no permissive parent. I believe FIRMLY in strict discipline and order in parenting. I put up with precisely zero guff from my kid.
All that said…I believe we each have a moral obligation to step in if it’s necessary.
@Annie with all do respect, you’ve stated you don’t have kids so you can have no idea how tired and sleep deprived you get with infants. And if its a colicy infant it even worse. If you are so sleep deprived that you feel you are going to loose it with your kid and you call for help that is to be commended not called lazy parenting. I call my mom all the time for advice, sometimes when you are in the situation you need an outside view.
@ Aspen my oldest is 2 so we are right in the middle of tantrums, I can’t count how many times I have had to carry him crying to the car when he doesn’t want to leave the park. It is a tough age.
my mother told me when I threw a fit she’d step over me and walk away (you know keeping watch but walk away) I’d finish screaming and get up and follow her.
which works fine at home. But in the store I tried it once or twice. (youngest is a handful on his best days)
I would say to folks, he’s o.k. please ignore him. Some mothers would smile knowingly and walk on. Sometimes a woman would swoop down and murmur sweet “it’s o.k. baby’s” @ him. No it’s not o.k. He is not permitted to act that way. and you are no permitted to comfort him when the little bugger is causing his own headaches acting afool.
Far and away the worst offender is the MIL. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gone head to head over rules. Her pandering to them when I have told them to stop or sit or what-have-you. My SIL gives in right away, throws her arms in the air and walks away. I’ll stand toe to toe. Make my children do or not do what is expected of them. As a result my nephew is a total brat and grandma’s and spins wildly out of control as the day progresses. My kids however will say- “no grandma, we’re not allowed to xyz” or better yet “cousin, it’s not o.k. to yell at grandma like that, you better behave.” My nephew whom I adore greatly is a well behaved child at my house but gives me a wicked side-eye at grandma’s because eating ice cream while jumping up and down on the couch is far more fun than sitting on your butt at the table. lol
Kids and pets eh? no one tells you how to talk to your spouse…
H…oh, I hear you. I was the “lazy” mom who just stopped taking her kid to the park. I couldn’t bear it anymore. I knew how it would go, and so I avoided that situation. Once she hit 3, I was able to explain that if she screamed when it was time to go, she wouldn’t get to go again for a long time, and that type of “logic” consequence began to register.
I feel for you. Just remember that this will pass eventually. Hang in there.
People who should not have–nor care for children love the ‘it’s none of your business’ slogan. As if they can bully everyone from protecting children. It is so disturbing how many people are just so cruel to children in public. Imagine what they are like when no one is around?
Shelly Shelz, You are delusional. There are laws and protections for children and even animals. So you think you are part of some small militia that can take on the police department and child protective services? Why don’t you take a gander at the all the pictures of beautiful children who are up for foster care and adoption. Their parents have attitudes just like yours–they think they can do whatever they want to to their children. You cannot. Your youth has nothing to do with your strength but it obviously has a lot to do with your stupidity.
Liv is such a kind soul, it’s not surprising that she’d step in. However, did she witness the old lady hitting the child?
I don’t think I’d ever approach a child in a situation like that unless the child was in danger.
The child appears to be in the 2 to 3 year old range, and many of us know those tantrums will try anyone’s nerves. At that point it’s time to go home. The old lady isn’t doing her blood pressure any favors by screaming back at the kid.
Annie, sometimes people do need help. My younger kid had escalating tantrums for over about 18 months and past the normal age of tantrums. It wasn’t normal and it was making our quality of life about a -20. When my little one was pitching a fit, it would take up all my attention and energy and my other child was basically on her own, which wasn’t fair to her. This child had 20-45 minute-long tantrums several times a day, saving them up all day for me in the evening. Making dinner, getting them bathed, to sleep, ANYTHING was an ordeal, night after night. About half of our weekday time together was spent in tantrums or in their aftermath. Whatever I was doing wasn’t working, so getting help from a psychologist worked for us.
Having said that, if some stranger had confronted me in a store about my younger daughter and my parenting, it wouldn’t have helped me at all! I know people often mean well, sometimes there isn’t much they can do. We have to live our own lives. Getting help is one thing, getting “helped” is another.
Gawd – you lot need a load of bloody medals, I honestly don’t know how you do it.
I would be the gibbering wreck of a woman standing in the middle of the supermarket not having a clue how to get my baby to stop crying while all the other judgy grown ups tutted at how appallingly I am raising my child.
I work 70+ hours a week in construction and I swear to god I don’t think I’d hack it for a week being a full time mother.
Mad props to y’all.
lb:
Yes there r laws that protect children from physical, mental, emotional etc. abuse. But in this case we’re not tlkn abt that, we’re tlkn abt a woman disciplining a toddler the way she sees fit. Who’s anyone to say “how dare she yell or raise her voice to a toddler”. Unless u c actual damaging abuse going on…its none of ur business! My nieces r 5, 6 & 7 yrs old & I raise them and discipline them according to my standards & no one will ever step in and tell me my way is wrong. U can have ur opinion on sumones parenting skills or lack thereof but to voice it (especially in front of the child!) is unacceptable to me.
My youth has nothing to do with my strength but it’d intimidate her…I know women like that & the fact that u feel MY opinions r so stupid shows ur level of maturity
Hmmm…I understand LT’s motivation and do believe her heart is in the right place. But…
She had no business interfering with a stranger. You simply cannot go around policing other people when you disagree with them. Who knows what the whole story here was? She certainly didn’t-but she chose to butt in where she was not needed or wanted.
If she felt she was witnessing a genuinely abusive situation, she should have quietly called the police. Approaching that stranger was (1) inappropriate and (2) potentially dangerous
Annie, while I agree with you to a certain extent about how nambypambied we’ve become with counseling for everything, I can’t agree that just because generations did without, that was a good thing. People didn’t always do OK. We have no idea just how ‘not OK’ things were. My generation didn’t have counseling and in my house, we got the sh*t kicked out of us on a regular basis for very little reason. Not to mention the psychological abuse. I’d rather err on the side of people being able to get help than having the emotional wreckage that occurs when those who need help don’t get it.
All of this apathy when children are being abused is how the abusers get away with it. How long has it taken for certain children to be found, after having been kidnapped, because people looked the other way? I think Liv did a wonderful thing, and I would hope that more people would stand up for the little girl being hit and yelled at than are saying so here. Just because you want to yell at and hit your children in peace, because you were yelled at and hit and you see nothing wrong with it, it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.
I am actually with Liv on that one. Every time I fly, there’s a baby who is being ignored by the mother.
I think sometimes kids can act out and should not be encouraged, but some parents (or nanny or caregiver) can be unbelievable.
I’m just looking at the photos, and while we can’t tell what exactly Liv said, I think it’s more than a little unfair to assume that Liv was “butting in” or telling the woman how to take care of the child. Liv doesn’t look angry or judgmental at all (maybe a little hurt in some of the pictures), and she’s generally very sweet and soft spoken in interviews. Maybe she just came over to try and help to be NICE, not to insult the woman’s parenting skills or cause problems. On one hand everyone complains that everyone is so self-absorbed now but if anyone makes any move to be involved or kind they are being obnoxious and butting in. I think there is a line, but far too many people view everything as a step over it. I don’t have children, but I’ve had someone come up to me after I had a fight with my boyfriend and ask if “that man was bothering you” and if he needed to say something to him or call the Police for me. My boyfriend didn’t hit me or anything like that — we basically got into a fight about him being a wet blanket, lol. And all I had to say was, “Oh, no. Everything’s fine, thanks for asking,” and that was the end of it.
But then I generally find it inexcusable to yell or be rude in most situations where you can accomplish the same thing without being a dick. Now the guy who spoke to me will feel like he was just trying to help, and the next time someone actually needs it, he’ll extend that help. But when you act ridiculous about it, as this women seems to have, that could potentially mean that another child that might really need someone to step in for them will go unhelped.
But I think we don’t really know what was going on or what was said. But screaming probably wasn’t warranted, whatever the situation was.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with checking in on a unresolved situation, especially when little kids are involved. It’s a considerate, neighborly thing to do, and a little kindness goes a long way. Especially if you approach the situation in a non-judgmental way.
But then again, I’m from the Midwest. If I see someone looking exasperated or worn down, I try to give them a little smile and ask if I can help. I’ve gotten a lot of perplexed/dirty looks since moving out West, but whatever. Some people need a little extra consideration every now and again. I can’t help it that I was raised to be polite. 😉
Every situation is different. There is nothing wrong with someone getting help if they feel overwhelmed. It’s better to do this than to let the situation get out of hand (nervous breakdown, child abuse, physical harm to themselves or their children).Anyone who doesn’t think it’s ok to get help just needs to STFU!!!! and for all of you with advice who have never had children ,but only cats and dogs- why did you even click on this link? You don’t take dieting advice from a fat man, or cooking instructions from an anorexic (sp) . Why in the hell would anyone take parenting advice from you?
good just what celebs get they need to keep their noses out of other peoples affairs. no one cares what you think your just malfuctioning talking props.
Good for her. She did what any mother would do. Hell, she did what any decent human being would do, mom or not.
I respect those of you who had the guts to call CPS on yourselves. It must have been really, really hard to do. It actually takes a MUCH more mature outlook to realize that if you get as out of control as your kid is and you lose your composure, that you are not teaching your kid how to keep theirs. Gandhi and Martin Luther King realized that a nonviolent approach can work. But nobody said it is easily.
My job makes me a mandated reporter for CPS. And I really want to give parents the benefit of the doubt. Reports that are unfounded are really devastating. But I would risk that situation, rather than having any child die of abuse because nobody intervened. And that is still happening in this country.
What’s better, controlling your child or helping them develop the power to control themselves? If the only thing stopping them from being bad is fear of punishment, they won’t learn not to do wrong. They’ll just learn not to get caught or to hurt others before they get hurt.
Liv is rocking some crazy “Mum bum” in those shots.
@Jacque
You aren’t even describing the scenario in question. The woman was yelling at the kid not smacking it around. Now if you need to exaggerate to make a point then perhaps you should consider the fact that you never had one to begin with. And yes, most parents do know what’s best for THEIR child because it’s their DNA, THEIR bloodline, and they know their child better than anyone else. Do you think some random stranger would be within their place to argue differently? That’s a very extreme proposal. The law certainly doesn’t think so. And who said that children were the property of their parents? Can we stick to discussing what we read instead of imagined scenarios?
Mind ya damn business, Liv.
Is Liv cares so much about children then where is hers? With the nanny? She really should be minding her own business and her own child.
She needs to mind her own damn business! So what if the lady was yelling or even spanking the child. When I was young and causing a scene, I would get spanked. When I had my own children and they acted up they got warned and then spanked. I’m so tired of everyone saying “it’s not good to spank your kids”. I will be damned if my kids will grow up to be juvenile delinquents…PEOPLE NEED TO MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS AND BELIEVE ME I HAD TO TELL PEOPLE JUST THAT!!
Liv should dress better – i mean those pants and shoes … ugh.
As for her stepping in – i think she was just trying to do the right thing, but grandma was already so worked up – it was just easy for her to vent at Liv.
I think that we have all watched way too many lifetime movies and believe that every child is being abused when we don’t like others parenting skills.
I agree with Ro.
On another note, if there’s gonna be a Wonder Woman movie Liv should be her. Not saying she’s like Arnold, but she looks like she could crush me like a beer can (I’d be cool with that actually).
I’m gonna second that Wonder Woman suggestion!
I understand where you are all coming from. You’re absolutely correct.
I should have been more clear, that’s my fault.
My peeve isn’t with the parents who are trying and trying and trying. And then seeking help.
A lot of my irritation comes from people like Octo-Mom who just have the kids and then expect others to swoop in and help, while she sits and complains about the Gosselins.
Having come from a very large family, I can definitely sympathize with the amount of stress a mother can go through, especially from birth, through terrible 2s, to terrible teens (GUILTY! Sorry mom. LOL). God Bless my mom for having the patience to deal with 4 of us. And yea, sometimes, she got help from my grandma.
Being a mom is one of the most difficult and rewarding jobs out there IMO.
It’s just frustrating when people only resort to outside help for their issues instead of resolving it themselves.
Obviously this is a case by case basis and I shouldn’t have made an unclear blanket statement.
That being said, I think it’s hard to tell exactly what’s the best thing to do if placed in Liv’s position. She may have been overreacting (as shown by many of our commenters stories about similar occurences with their children) or she may have been completely justified.
Also: Cesar Milan is a genius. That can’t be denied. But people need to realize there’s only ONE and get off their goddamn high-horse. LOL. Oh. And my corgi would LOVE your mastiffs. He’s such a little punk, loves to chase the big dogs and have them chase him.
I think it was right for Liv Tyler to stop and comfort the child. If I saw a woman yelling at a infant I would say something to. It could be verbal abuse. I worked in a infant room of a preschool. This is personal to me