It has become a tradition recently for me to travel somewhere for my birthday. This time my destination was San Francisco, California. I try to see as much as I can while I am here in the U.S.

I traveled with my aunt; she is a great person to travel with. Everybody thinks we are sisters. Our flight was through O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. We had arrived two hours prior our scheduled time, and found out that the plane was 55 minutes delayed. We sat at our gate, and a woman with a child, approximately 2 years old, caught my attention.

What I saw was horrifying, I wish I had never witnessed it; and it was only the beginning. The woman was not okay, you could tell! She threw the child into the stroller as one would throw a baseball ball, and shook the child, holding his shoulders and yelling to stop screaming. The kid stopped. I was speechless.

An hour later, I saw the lady pushing the stroller around our gate. The kid could not sit in the stroller anymore, it has been an hour or so already, so he was trying to get down. The mother did not like it, so she started pulling his hands violently while the child was resisting her force. The next thing I see, she was pushing the stroller toward the wall.

I felt so bad for that little man with blond hair and eyes as blue as the ocean. He was so harmless and helpless. So many people saw what this woman was doing to him, but they did not seem to be willing to get involved. Even men said they could not watch it or take it any longer; they would just turn and leave.

The second I decided to go to the security, I saw my aunt could not handle it anymore either. She went to the lady and said out loud, “Hey! Stop doing this to him! You are hurting him! I will call the police if you will not stop this violence!” The woman stopped.

I was standing there and thinking, if she does behave this was in public than how is she behaving at home, where nobody watches her? The next thought that came to my mind was the fact that not everybody can be a parent.

I do not say it is easy, but you have to understand the responsibility and accept the challenges and the fact that kids are kids. The woman was so busy with her phone; she did not put any effort to entertain the little one. She did not bring any toys or let him walk around. And what are you expecting a 2-year-old to do?

I am not trying to be judgmental. I just cannot accept such treatment towards children. There are no bad people, and kids are innocent. But how a parent treats a child can have a huge impact on the child, and later on, on the society itself. Be patient with your kids, even in stressful situations like traveling, and invest in a better future.