Yesterday, this 25-year-old woman and her 26-year-old boyfriend went to the mall so they could have lunch together and do some shopping.
They made a few stops at different spots in the food court, and she was carrying a tray full of food when a little boy who couldn’t have been older than six came running towards them.
“My boyfriend put his hand out in front of us in a ‘stop’ motion, and when the kid made contact with his hand, my boyfriend pushed back and knocked the boy to the ground. He fell on the floor and was crying hysterically,” she explained.
“The boy’s parents came over, and the father started pushing my boyfriend into the wall, demanding to know why my boyfriend hit him, and my boyfriend just said their son is old enough to know better than to run full speed in the mall.”
“Because of the yelling between him and the father, we were all asked to leave the mall, and this was extremely embarrassing. I was surprised that my boyfriend really knocked a kid to the ground (he could have sort of put his hands out to brace for impact or something), and I think he took the threat of a running child too seriously, but when I share this, my boyfriend asks what I would do in that situation to protect him.”
Her boyfriend didn’t view what he did as wrong. In fact, he thought he had every right to push this kid to the ground, as he felt the kid’s mom and dad should have made it clear to the child that he wasn’t allowed to run inside.
She was so busy balancing her tray of food that she wasn’t aware of what her boyfriend was doing at the moment, though there was no doubt in her mind that he had obviously pushed this child to the ground.
Her boyfriend has since argued he didn’t push the little boy intentionally, but she knows what she saw with her own eyes.
“In that situation, I would have put my arm out a little to have a little stop between me and the kid just to stop a full-force collision, or I would have stepped out of the way if I wasn’t carrying an awkward tray of food,” she added.
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“I feel like my boyfriend could have been a little more gentle with how he handled the situation and then dealt with the parents.”
“My boyfriend and I have been together for two years. He’s sweet and kind, he treats me well, and he gets along with my family. After this episode, I’m sort of second-guessing the relationship.”
She’s never witnessed her boyfriend act in an angry way, and he’s never gotten into a public altercation in the past.
She has little kids in her family similar in age to the boy at the mall, and her boyfriend hasn’t acted in an alarming way when interacting with them.
However, she’s so upset by how her boyfriend behaved in the mall that she’s doubting they can have a future together.
“…But now I’m worried he’s one running child away from a jail sentence, and I’m wondering that he’s somehow [hidden] that he’s some sort of hot head for our whole relationship,” she continued.
“I do not want to be in a relationship with somebody who is mean to children, but I don’t know if I really saw what I saw.”
What do you think? Should she dump her boyfriend over the incident in the mall?
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