Surely many of us, when out in the community with our children with special needs, have felt like smacking someone for staring at our family, though we've likely just stewed and fumed instead of acting upon that impulse. The news today brings a story from the opposite direction: A woman attacked a family because the daughter was staring at her. The mother tried to explain that the girl was deaf and trying to read lips, rather than staring with hostile intent. But the enraged stare-ee attacked the mom anyway, injuring the girl's baby sister in the process.
Man, what is going on with people getting violent when kids in public places do things that, really, aren't that uncommon for kids to do? First a man slaps a toddler for crying, now a woman attacks because a child is staring -- which, lip-reading or not, doesn't sound so far outside the bounds of normal behavior for a ten-year-old. The fact that the child couldn't understand the message "don't stare at me" without staring just makes it sadder. Do we need to coin a new phrase here, along the lines of Road Rage? Kid Craze? Tot Temper? Name the syndrome in the comments.
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Maybe I would call it child rage. This is a good simple descriptive name. Or rage praecox (from the same principle as dementia praecox).
And it seems like a bit of the Gruen transfer/bystander effect is going on here.
It must have been more fear than rage. Staring can get out the worst in some hypervigilant people, as well.
I am not sure what it should be called, other than “sick.” What kind of adult attacks a child, however provocative or annoying or even threatening the behavior? Unless the child is as big or bigger than you and you are in imminent danger of being attacked, there is no excuse to launch the first strike. You can defuse, or defend, but shouldn’t preemptively strike and then later say you were provoked, esp. by a non-physical provocation like staring or screaming! There might be underlying, unresolved reasons why adults would act this way (unresolved medical or psychological issues), but I’m not going to concern myself with your issues when you, an adult, can’t keep your hands off a child, especially mine! If life “out there” is so provocative to you as an adult and you’re large or strong enough to do some real damage–to a child especially, then it’s probably best you stay out of the public arena, and get some serious help.
Disturbing is what I would call it. What on earth is wrong with people now a days?