One dad is sharing his story about beating up a stranger who picked up his young daughter from the shopping cart and ran into another aisle at a grocery store.
“Something happened to me recently where I had to lay down my protector ‘male energy.’ The one time I felt it came naturally and was entirely warranted, I was judged for doing what I felt was best for my daughter. So, let’s set the scene,” the Original Poster (OP) began in part.
“Here I am, turning the corner with my shopping cart in Publix (a supermarket chain down here in Florida, if you don’t know). My wife wanted to bake something that weekend, so I stopped in the baking supplies aisle. My daughter is sitting in the front of the shopping cart, minding her own business, when a man (a total stranger, might I add) comes soaring in out of who knows where.”
“I didn’t know it at the time. I wasn’t looking and had walked some feet away to squint at 2 dozen brands of flour to find the gluten-whatever-the-heck almond flour my wife asked me for. Suddenly, a man appears in my peripheral and sweeps up my child. He starts shaking her up and down.”
“I ask him what he’s doing and he says, ‘Oh, just holding her. Relax.’ He can tell from my face that I’m not okay with neither the abruptness with which he snatched her up or the slight aggression in his movements. My daughter immediately starts crying and is pushing his chest away from her with her little hands. I lean in to grab her back and he takes a giant step back. ‘She’s so cute, isn’t she?’”
“At this point, my daughter is bloody murder screaming. ‘Don’t touch my daughter. Hand her back to me right now.’ Now I’m the one giving death glares. At this point, I’m getting angry. I’m a nice guy, and I must say it’s pretty hard to get me mad. But when it comes to my daughter, I have no tolerance. Suddenly, this man, this STRANGER starts walking down the aisle with my baby towards another woman.”
RELATED: 11-Year-Old Florida Girl Fought Back Attacker Who Attempted To Abduct Her At Bus Station
“I immediately go after him and start to grab my daughter from his grasp, but he’s latching on. ‘Let go of her!’ he shouts, about MY OWN CHILD. He gestures to the woman. ‘This is the kind I’d like to adopt,’ he says to her. She just stares, slightly concerned and taken aback. By this point, I was terrified this stranger was one of those child abductors you hear about on the news. When he didn’t let go of my daughter, I kicked him in the shin and then punched him in the face.”
“It all happened in what felts like a fraction of a second. He releases my daughter from his hold. Within seconds he reached in and grabbed a can from his cart and threw it at my back. ‘I was just showing my wife how pretty she was, a**hole.’ People start crowding around the scene. I go back and I punch him again. People lunge at me to pull me back. We are held until security comes. My daughter is back in the front of the shopping cart, crying. Other ladies are trying to soothe her.”
“Eventually, we were both kicked out of the store. A group of women gave me disapproving looks, one of them saying, ‘Do better for your daughter. Are you KIDDING? A fight, REALLY?’ before walking off. I was livid. I was doing what I did to PROTECT her from some scumbag stranger who literally snatched her away and wouldn’t let go of her.”
RELATED: 11-Year-Old Mourns Mom Who Died Attempting To Save Her Baby Brother From Abduction
“Let me be loud and clear: Under no circumstance is it okay to GRAB another person’s child without consent, much less refuse to let go and walk away (or with any woman, too).”
“Women and children are not all access. If you would like to hold someone’s baby, just ask. If you would like to touch another person’s baby, just ask. And when that baby is old enough, please ask the child themselves for consent. They are the controllers of their body, NO ONE else. And if you decide to break that rule, well, you might be met with a punch in the face, whether it’s deemed ‘too aggressive’ or not. Please have some respect.”
“And while we’re at it, can we stop with the gendered parenting expectations? My wife is a bad*** warrior woman, and I’m a ball of mush. No amount of eye rolls, snarky side comments, or societal pressure will change that.””
Mamas Uncut is THE online place for moms. We cover the latest about motherhood, parenting, and entertainment as well – all with a mom-focused twist. So if you're looking for parenting advice from real parents, we have plenty of it, all for moms from moms, and also experts. Because, at the end of the day, our mission is focused solely on empowering moms and moms-to-be with the knowledge and answers they’re looking for in one safe space.