To The Strangers Who Put Down Kids: Get A Life

Beyonce’s daughter wore a designer dress that cost thousands of dollars to an award show. Well, alright, I get that many people feel it’s extravagant. I mean, she’s like, four-years-old, right? She probably doesn’t need, and maybe she doesn’t even want, an expensive dress.

When I first saw the pictures and read about the cost of the dress, I will admit that I, too, thought it was a bit much. However, it’s really none of my business how much anyone, Beyonce or the neighbor down the street, spends on his or her daughter’s clothing. Plus, I’ve got more important things to think about such as presidential elections, back-to-school backpack organization, how the heck I’m going to get more sleep, find a “real” job, get my first book published, and how to minimize the lines on my forehead.

Seriously, people, sh*t just got real.

What I find to be most disturbing is the number of tweets, Facebook posts, and online comments all over the Internet that proclaim how “ugly” Beyonce’s daughter is. What in the heck is wrong with people? Most of the online comments were written by grown-a$$ adults who clearly have nothing better to do but to sit around all day long reading entertainment magazines and post crap about someone’s child.

Yes, I said, “Child.”

Blue Ivy is someone’s little kid. She probably plays with dolls, likes to paint, eats chicken nuggets (albeit more than likely made by an authentic organic-certified, highly trained person chef), but still, she is somebody’s baby regardless of who might be cooking her meals, and despite the fact that her parents can afford to buy her expensive dresses.

This child, who isn’t even old enough to attend school yet, is being called “ugly” by adults.

Sickening.

First of all, who are these people who have all the time in the world to sit around and comment about how ugly someone’s kid is, and why can’t they all find something better to do? I’m going to just throw it out there and guess that none of these douchebags are the sharpest tools in the shed. They probably don’t volunteer a lot of their free time helping the homeless or underprivileged. I bet they don’t teach adults to read in their spare time. They seem to me to be jealous, self-absorbed, petulant, immature and cowardly folks who, sitting behind a computer screen, use their words to cause pain, hurt feelings and make themselves feel better by tearing down other people’s kids.

Maybe these people don’t talk badly about their friends’ children. Maybe they don’t even say mean or hurtful things about the children at their kids’ schools or in their own neighborhoods, but only reserve the awful insults for the rich and famous. After all, most of those darn celebrities deserve to hear that hundreds of the “common people” think their kids are hideous, don’t they?

See, I don’t think they do. I don’t think that even if you are Beyonce, the President of the United States, or anyone else in the world, that you deserve or need to hear that there are adults out there who think your kid is ugly. I certainly don’t believe that those celebrities’ kids need to read online one day that numerous people thought that they were ugly children. Who is that going to help, and why do we, as a civilized society, think it’s okay to badmouth someone else’s kid?

It’s one thing to criticize an adult celebrity. I don’t agree with body shaming an adult or even calling an adult celebrity “ugly”, but an adult can fight back. An adult celebrity chooses, in most cases, not all, to post pictures of herself, so she probably knows there will be some negative comments. But when people start picking on children, that’s when my blood boils.

So, here’s my advice for those of you who think it’s perfectly okay to bash someone’s kid…

1. Get a job.
2. Go to school.
3. Look in the mirror.
4. Spend some time with a child, like, some REAL time. Afterwards ask yourself, “Is it truly okay for me to talk about this child’s looks?”
5. Go for a walk.
6. Have some ice cream.
7. Adopt a shelter animal.
8. Don’t be a dick.
9. Don’t be a bitch.
10. Figure out why you decided to post about how ugly you think a child is, and fix what’s wrong with YOU.

Kids are kids no matter who their parents are. They have feelings, just like the rest of us, and just like your own children do. How would you feel if someone told you that your son or daughter was ugly? What would you do? What would you say?

Stop tearing down children. It’s rude, it’s distasteful, it hurts, and it’s bullying.

If you are an adult, and you post something hurtful online about someone else’s child, you are a bully and you need to grow up. Clearly you have forgotten what it feels like to be called names, and you have lost what it means to be a compassionate human being.

Do better, get you sh*t together, and get a life. You’ll be happier, trust me.

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Articles by Tammi Landry-Gilder

Tammi Landry-Gilder

Tammi is an author, wife, mother and blogger who lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with her husband, two sons, three dogs, and too many fish in a tank to count.

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