Open Letter to HV Mom Who Let Her Kid Get Hurt While She Was Busy Texting

Smart phones in the hands of dumb parents can be a recipe for disaster. I learned that the hard way this past weekend.

Hashtag parenting, am I right?

My parents barely paid attention to me when I was little and they didn't even have smart phones. I'm sure there's some sort of deep rooted childhood trauma that I'll uncover years from now but could you imagine being neglected because of a book back in the day? What did parents use when they are ignoring their kids before 2010?

I was part of a very uncomfortable exchange this past weekend with a Hudson Valley mom and I have to address it.

I was hiking on a local trail when a small family walked passed me. The dad was clearly busy. He was pushing a stroller with a small child in it. The mother was behind him aimlessly walking around like a zombie with her face 3 inches from her phone. A  little girl was running around behind the mom. The little girl ran up this bigger rock. It wasn't massive but it was probably about foot off of the ground.

Just as I was getting ready to tell the young lady that she might not want to be up there the thing we all suspected was going to happen happened. She fell. She didn't appear to have seriously hurt herself but of course the water works started to happen.

After the mother heard her kid crying she ran over. After she checked on her kid she gave me this evil glare.

"What the hell happened?", she said.

After I told her about the incident this lady then had the audacity to ask why I didn't do anything to stop it with such an attitude.

Oh, I'm sorry for not watching your kids. I didn't think it was my job to be the park babysitter/ Superman who makes sure no kids get hurt. I could be wrong but isn't that your job? Well, at least for the two kids you brought here.

I don't have a time machine to go back and check but there's a good chance your child would not have gotten hurt in the first place if you were actually enjoying the hike with your family instead of posting about it on Instagram.

I understand it takes a village but put the phone down and have some personal responsibility.