LETTERS: WITNESSING CHILD ABUSE

To the editor:

My husband and I recently moved here from Phoenix. I thought one thing I wouldn't have to witness any more was child abuse in public. I am disabled, and my husband does the shopping. I go along sometimes and sit in the care and people-watch.

In front of a supermarket recently a were young mom, a large man and two small boys. The man was lovingly holding one of the boys. The man put down the child, who began to whimper. The mom pulled him up by his little arms and yelled loud enough for the whole parking lot to hear, "You want some of this? Shut up. Shut up." She hit him four times so hard I could fee the pain for this tiny person.

The child cried quite hard. The mom took his arms and pushed him against the building and then screamed again, "Shut up. Shut up."

It is hard to shut up when you are little or big when someone has hit you with such force. She hit him four more times, more angrily and louder than before. The man just stood there, and the other boy was playing with a grocery cart.

I sat up tall and put my arm out the window. I just wanted them to know I was there. Another woman came out of the store with groceries, and the family followed her. Before they got in their vehicle the mom hit the child four more times. She grabbed the child by his arm and appeared to slam him in the back seat.

When my husband came out I was crying, and he knew what had happened. I pray for these little boys every night. We will try to help somehow. Big people do care when little people get hurt.

PATRICIA AND DENNIS WATKINS

Cape Girardeau

Editor's note: The Missouri Division of Family Services has a toll-free telephone hotline for reporting child abuse and neglect. The number is 1-800-392-3738.