What would you do if you saw a woman grab her kid/infant/toddler and shake them vigorously in public?

I feel sick about it but never butt into a situation between a parent and his/her child.

I would go over there, pry the child free, and forcibly sit the mom down. I would then call police. While i wait for police i would talk to her about it.

Every shake is not abusive. You don’t give enough hypo info to answer. you saw

@perspicacious I figured “vigorously” would describe it enough.

I don’t know the situation… but with more details, maybe I could answer appropriately.
Maybe the child was choking, or having a seizure.

@Mom2BDec2010 Is this a 3 month old or 13 year old?

There’s a little thing called SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME, look it up.

No matter how old you can get it, but mostly small children.

@perspicacious Let’s say its a one year old.

@troubleinharlem I said her shaking them, not them shaking by thereselves. And I would hope no one shakes there baby when there choking.

Call Charles Bronson in for some vigilante justice ;)

@Mom2BDec2010 At that age shaking is very dangerous. I might intervene if it appeared that the parent was out of control. If it was a mild shake to get the child’s attention, then of course not. The public has been made so aware about the dangers of shaking babies that people tend to want to intervene when it’s not appropriate. I guess there is a fine line there. None of us want to see children hurt.

Oh yeah one more thing I’d be doing is holding myself back from beating the mother, even though every fiber of my body would be screaming to kick the living crap out of her.

Remind myself why I feel that not everyone should have kids…..Ever.

Few things peeve me more than when a parent, pulling their child’s arm behind them, jaywalks across the street. I’ve seen so many mothers nearly get hit doing this and I’m always terrified for the child’s safety.

Even so… I try not to get involved in these sort of matters. It’s not my place. If I personally knew a parent who showed signs of abusing their child, I wold contact the authorities but only then. I’ve called the police on my neighbors more than once because the screams were horrifying.

I might go up and offer to hold the child or the women’s packages. I would ask if I could help her. I would suggest that she take a break and have a cup of coffee or something else to drink.

@muppetish I don’t take any crap like that, If i see a child being mistreated i will protect them. When it comes to children i will butt my head into business other than my own.

“Physical abuse is physical aggression directed at a child by an adult. It can involve striking, kicking, shoving, slapping, burning, bruising, pulling ears or hair, choking or shaking a child. Shaking a child can cause shaken baby syndrome, which can lead to intracranial pressure, swelling of the brain, diffuse axonal injury, and oxygen deprivation; which leads to patterns such as failure to thrive, vomiting, lethargy, seizures, bulging or tense fontanels, altered breathing, and dilated pupils. The transmission of toxins to a child through its mother (such as with fetal alcohol syndrome) can also be considered physical abuse in some jurisdictions.Most nations with child-abuse laws consider the infliction of physical injuries or actions that place the child in obvious risk of serious injury or death to be illegal.”

So, I guess the message is clear. If you see any of that going on to a child, then you need to intervene. In fact, I think there are laws that hold you accountable for not intervening when you see it happening and were able too do something about it.

I would call the cops and intervene until they got there. I would simply walk up to the lady and tell her that she needs to stop shaking her child like that. When she starts telling me to mind my own business, I would keep talking to her in order to keep her there until the cops arrive. I would not touch the child unless I absolutely had to (to protect myself from any accusations by the mother). I believe once I walked up to her and said something, she would stop. Once the cops arrive, I’d tell them what I saw (maybe I would even record it on my phone while I’m walking up to her), and then leave it up to them.

I would call the police in a situation like that, just because (as others have pointed out) vigorously shaking a baby or toddler is extremely dangerous. It is abuse. While I wouldn’t like to see a child being hit or smacked, unless it was extreme I would stay out of it. Spanking is legal. Shaking a small child in such a way would not be acceptable to child welfare agencies.

I don’t know if I would talk to the mom or approach her unless the shaking continued for longer than it took to call the police, but I would follow her to her car and write down the plate number. I’d also try to have a store employee on hand or enlist the help of other witnesses.

i would be more worried about what the parent says to the kid. Words most often hurt worse.

I would immediately intervene physically and call the police.

I actually was in this situation once;it didn’t end well for the Mother of the toddler, and she was arrested…...however, that was a few years back and I would like to think that I would react in a more calm manner. I still think I would have to intervene though.

I answered a call where this drunk man and woman were having a heated arguement. i separated both and told the man to go back inside his house, while i talked to his girlfriend. she was arrogant and intoxicated. i calmed both down and was preparing to leave, when the woman grabbed her 5 year old son by the arm and yanked him off the concrete steps he was sitting on and minding his own business. she told him to come into the house and the boy did not act quick enough for the woman. the boy yelled and i slapped the handcuffs on the woman for child abuse. knowing that i wanted to slap her in the face for hurting her own child, i remained composed and followed the rules. her son was eventually taken away from her by Childrens Services and she served 45 days in the workhouse.

I would absolutely intervene. While I was telling her to stop shaking her child, I would be dialing the police. If she continued to shake the child despite this, I would physically remove the child from her – even if, by some stupid technicality, it meant I went to jail.

Children can’t protect themselves – someone has to be willing to do it.

I’m with @DrasticDreamer and @Dr_Lawrence on this – absolutely intervene.

Call the cops and address the woman about it. I saw a situation like this once and just left. I told my mom about it and she wanted to call the cops. I didn’t want to get people in trouble back in those days, but if you’re being an abusive SOB..your butt is mine and the cops.