British Child Abuse

Andrew was recently in London, much to his displeasure. He doesn't like London because he feels that people are terrible to children there. This seemed like a ridiculous criticism, so I asked for an example.

Andrew was in a public restroom - probably pooping or something, I didn't ask - and there was a small child in there crying loudly. The kid was by himself and terrified, clearly separated from his parents and lost. Everyone ignored the kid and walked by him, except for one man who gruffly shouted to no one in particular, "Can someone control this child?!"

That was pretty bad, but hardly indicative of an entire country, so Andrew shared another story.

Andrew was out at lunch and there was a cute little kid running around the tables being friendly with strangers. He ran up to one elderly couple and said, "Hi, my name is Damien, what's your name?" The old man shot the kid an evil stare and meanly stated, "I'm not going to tell you my name. You wouldn't remember it if I told you." And then the kid burst into tears.

Okay, that story breaks my heart. Maybe England really is full of cranky, unsympathetic child haters. I trust Andrew's opinion on the matter since he suffered some cruelty at the hands of his grandmother.

Boycott London!