ANONYMUM: 'I was picking up my child from school when a woman's behaviour shocked me.'

My story begins on one unsuspecting spring afternoon while I was waiting in a car space outside my child’s school for pick up.

Once my daughter had belted up I was just about to turn the key in the ignition to leave when I heard (and felt) a bump into the back of the car.

Upon looking in my rear view mirror I saw an elderly woman with her granddaughter seated beside her in the passenger seat.

Both of their faces reacted to what had just happened. The school girl was looking at her grandmother and was pointing at our car, clearly indicating the fact she had just run into it.

What happened next though totally floored me. The woman put her finger to her mouth looking at her granddaughter then proceeded to drive off. Yep, she shushed her grandchild and then drove away.

Here’s how you can curb your road rage. Post continues below…

Many things were running through my mind at that time, some are not to ever be repeated, these are the sharable ones.

Firstly, I thought, how could anyone knowingly and so openly actually do this and drive off?

Secondly, how could a grandmother do this?

Thirdly, how could a woman with her granddaughter in the car with her, right next to her do this? Then proceed to tell her to be quiet when she was obviously trying to do the right thing by altering her grandmother to the damage?

And lastly, how could someone in our own school community (who we are bound to see again) do this?

Despite being totally shocked that this had just happened, I managed to write down the make and model of the car, its colour and number plate. With this information and some photos of the damage, I made a police report and contacted my insurance company.

After a few weeks, I noticed the woman at another spot waiting for her granddaughter one day for school pick up. I decided to confront her (politely of course, I do respect my elders even if they don’t all respect me). But she didn’t disappoint, she also had a bad attitude.

Are spots reserved for mums with prams really all that sacred? We discuss, on our podcast for imperfect parents. Post continues below…

Her disregard carried over from driving, to communication. She angrily and rudely denied her wrongdoing (despite a very suspicious dent in the front of her car), then attacked me for not stopping her from driving off at the time (because this is my responsibility…not). If all of that wasn’t enough, she then proceeded to tell me her “son is a lawyer.” Seriously?!

Although the woman eventually and very begrudgingly took my insurance details and paid, the entire experience left me totally bewildered. How could anyone with a child in the car do such an immoral (not to mention illegal) action and then encourage an impressionable child to also do the wrong thing?

Not only as the adult (which common adjectives include – mature and grown up) in charge of caring and for being responsible for her primary school aged grandchild (common adjective includes – impressionable) did she do a horribly dishonest act, she also forced her to take part in it.

That behaviour is not OK in the real world.

What would you have done in this situation? Tell us in the comments section below. 

Want more parenting stories? Visit our newsletter page and sign up to “Mamamia Parents”  to get Nama Winston’s take on Parenting for real every week into your inbox (see one of her newsletters here)