Little Boy Lost

I nearly hit a very small boy with my bicycle yesterday. He was toddling along the sidewalk as I crossed into the park on my way to the swimming pool. I thought it odd that such a young child would be completely alone in such a busy place but continued on my way without a great deal of concern.

“Daniel!!!” I heard a man yelling at the top of his lungs. “Stop! Stop!” the little boy was not alone after all. A few rotations of my tires and I could see an apparently angry and distraught man, probably the kid’s parent.

Why are you yelling at the kid?  Whose the adult in this situation? And, hello! how the hell did that kid get all the way up the street and you’re just figuring it out now? Someone should be yelling at you, asshole.

I started thinking, jeesh, what a commonly practiced parenting ritual. Yelling at a kid when the adult fucks up. We’re not much better with other adults and we likely learn this behaviour in childhood. I started thinking about the last time I yelled at someone because I had let my guard down and now I wanted to blame someone else. Wow. I think I do it a lot.