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Fans cheer after tennis player asks for crying child to be removed from the stands

The little one had been crying for over 10 min during the tennis match.

Tennis player asks for crying child to be kicked out of Cincinnati Open

Babies, toddlers and children belong in public spaces just like the rest of society. Unless an event or place of business is clearly marketed as child-free then children deserve to be in those places at their parents discretion. It's their presence in varying situations that help teach them social norms of the environment in which they're existing. If parents bring a two-year-old to a casual dining restaurant and they throw a tantrum, chances are both the parents and the child are learning from that moment.

But as parents, when brining our children into public spaces, we also have to be aware of our surroundings to adjust parenting expectations accordingly. Meaning, you wouldn't parent your toddler the same in a movie theater as you would at the park. Different situations call for different levels of situational awareness, so when one parent brought their child to the Cincinnati Open a player had to ask them to leave.

tennis; Cincinnati Open; Emma Raducanu; Aryna Sabalenka; crying child; tantrum at tennis; tennis match Tennis player serving under a clear blue sky.Photo credit: Canva

Emma Raducanu was in a match against Aryna Sabalenka, as she was about to serve you could hear a child crying in the crowd. Instead of serving the ball to Sabalenka to start the match, Raducanu looks over at the umpire seemingly frustrated and says, "it's been like 10 minutes" referring to the child crying. The umpire looks surprised and clarifies by asking if the tennis player wanted the child to be removed to which a chorus of voices responded to the question in the affirmative, as did Raducanu.

The match had to continue according to the umpire but she promised to make a call to have the parent take the child outside of the stadium. If you've ever watched a tennis match, the venue is completely silent outside of the sound of the ball whizzing from one racket to the next along with the grunts of the players. Because tennis is accustom to such quiet events, players are known to ask to have someone removed for being distracting so Raducanu's move shouldn't be surprising.

tennis; Cincinnati Open; Emma Raducanu; Aryna Sabalenka; crying child; tantrum at tennis; tennis match Focused intensity on the tennis court.Photo credit: Canva

This is where parental situational awareness may have helped save some embarrassment. The match was played outside in the 90 degree heat, which means the small child was likely hot, uncomfortable and bored. There's not much for spectators to do outside of spectate when at a tennis match. For that reason, people feel as if the parent of the child should've been more courteous of others by removing the child into an air conditioned area or finding somewhere for the little one to let off some energy. If nothing else, this was a teaching moment for the parent albeit frustrating for the players and other spectators.

"6mo boy dad here. We took him to Bingo with my mom when he was I think 3mo and I spent probably 1/4 of the evening walking him around the parking lot because they had a strict policy about excess noise while numbers were being called. I knew about it when we signed up to go, and I took that responsibility very seriously. The stakes for that were so much lower than this, and I still felt afterwards like I had made a mistake and we haven't done it again since. He was and still is just too young. If a player called out my crying son and I at a tennis tournament after 10 minutes of me somehow staying in my seat for whatever reason, I don't know that I'd ever leave the house again," one person writes on a Reddit post about the situation.

"It was 100 degrees out and the child had been screaming for 10+ minutes at this point. I would've lost my patience wayyyy earlier," another says.

"Yep. If we’re out and my toddler starts fussing I take her outside to walk around for a bit. If she still won’t relax I tell my wife to enjoy dinner(we only go out with her family) and I’ll see her at home later. I’m not going to ruin someone else’s day/night by forcing them to listen to a kid crying. Tennis is supposed to be a quiet spectators sport. The ump shouldn’t need to be asked to kick the baby out," someone else shares.

tennis; Cincinnati Open; Emma Raducanu; Aryna Sabalenka; crying child; tantrum at tennis; tennis match Tennis match in action: focused and ready to volley! 🎾Photo credit: Canva

"Cincinnati resident here. With the heat and humidity we've had, I can't fathom taking my almost 2 year old to one of these tennis matches. We get her out for 30-45 minutes at absolute most before getting her inside to cool off and hydrate. That poor baby must have been so hot and miserable" one commenter expresses.

People were sympathetic to the parent's fear of missing out as well as the obvious discomfort of the child but overwhelmingly they all agreed that the tennis player had every right to ask them to remove the child. Babies and children belong in public places just as much as the next person but having an escape plan when possible for meltdowns is essential to the courtesy of everyone else.

It takes a village, as they say.

People who work with children—teachers, coaches, mentors—are often beloved by the kids they serve, especially if they're good at what they do. Those caring adult relationships are important in a child's life, but they can also lead to some awkward situations as kids learn appropriate ways to show affection to different people. A baby might cover their mother's face with slobbery kisses, but other adults may not appreciate that very much. As kids grow, they learn what's okay and not okay, not just from their parents but from the village of adults in their lives as well.

A perfect example of what that looks like was shared in a video showing a swim instructor at the end of a swim lesson with a toddler who hugged him and then went in for a kiss. The hug was expected and welcome—"Thank you, Mila. I love Mila hugs!" the swim coach said. But when she started to go in for a kiss, he immediately pulled back, gently saying, "No, no kissy. No kissy 'cause I'm coach. You only kiss Mommy and Daddy, okay?"

The little girl looked a bit dejected and started to cry, and he quickly gave her an acceptable alternative. "Okay, hey! High five!" he said, while holding up his hand. "High five 'cause we're all done!" She calmed right down, gave him a high five, and then he moved on to clean-up time.

Watch:

His expression at the end of the video says it all—he knew that was a teachable moment that could have gone very wrong, but he handled it with clear professionalism and toddler-friendly expertise. People loved seeing such a great example:

"So sweet... I sometimes have young clients who want to give kisses and it's so cute but you do have to tell them "no" because it's an important boundary to learn. Not everyone wants kisses!"

"On top of knowing not to do it to other people, it also teaches them for themselves that other people shouldn’t be just giving them kisses."

"The kid is absolutely adorable but that coach is on another level. Creating the boundaries while keeping it cool and recording the whole thing so the parents are extremely comfortable. Dude is setting a hell of example."

"It sounds like he's got a good balance between encouraging her growth and setting appropriate boundaries. Kids can be incredibly affectionate, and it's important to gently guide them in understanding what's suitable."

boundaries, gif, new girl, setting boundaries, kids, adults Jake Johnson Fox GIF by New Girl Giphy

"I also think it’s important for the parents’ comfort that a grown man swimming with their young girl isn’t overstepping boundaries/being predatory. From the outside looking in, it’s hard to know for sure when something is innocent or not. It’s better to just stay away from those situations as a whole."

"The little girls I used to babysit always tried to give me kisses (they were between 2-5) and I had to tell them that I’m not related to you, so you can’t kiss me. You can hi-five or hug me, but no kisses! They still give me running tackle hugs when they see me!"

A few commenters pointed out that some cultures see kissing as totally acceptable, as it's frequently used as a friendly greeting for people of all ages and genders. But even in those cultures, boundaries based on relationships and contexts are important to learn, and it's helpful when adults help teach those lessons so it doesn't all fall on the parents.

In an article titled "Teaching Kids About Boundaries: Why empathy and self awareness play a major role," Child Mind Institute includes a helpful video about teaching boundaries to children, and it confirms that the coach handled things in exactly the right way. In a section entitled "Rules work both ways," the institute notes that when people model their boundaries, it's important for children to empathetically listen. "People are in charge of their own bodies," writes Rae Jacobson, author of the article and senior editor at the Child Mind Institute, "and it's not okay to touch them if they don't want you to, just like it's not okay for someone to touch [you] in a way you don't like." By calmly modeling his boundaries, the swim coach gave his young swimmer a gentle but clear message about what was and was not okay and embodied both empathy and autonomy for her in a way she can understand and mirror when she's older.

- YouTube youtu.be

Well done, Coach. Thanks for giving us all such a fabulous example to follow.

This article originally appeared in January. It has been updated.

Didn't have this on our bingo card for today

Nearly every parent on the planet can recall turning their back for literally two seconds and finding their toddler with something bizarre in their mouth. Little ones often engage in their curiosity by eating what they see—it’s just an innocent, albeit worrisome, way of learning more about the world around them.

And this is why literally millions of viewers couldn’t help but tune in as one mom, Natasha Emeny (@palominolil), showed the aftermath of walking in on her toddler Koah eating her father’s ashes. Yep, straight from the urn.

Emeny told DailyMail she had just gone upstairs to put some laundry away when she returned to discover the cremation catastrophe. This was especially mortifying, considering she had placed the ashes on a shelf well out of reach of her son, and it had been there for his entire life. Still toddlers are gonna toddler.

Hence, why we can hear Emeny screaming “Oh my God. When your son eats your dad.” We can also see a whimpering Koah, clearly aware he had done a bad, bad thing.


Hopefully, after the shock subsided, Emeny was able to take solace in some of the grade-A jokes bestowed upon her by folks who witnessed the whole thing on TikTok.

"Let us know if he starts acting like [your] dad."

“I don't think this is how reincarnation is supposed to work.”

"'When your son eats your dad' I hate when that happens."

“Well now you can also say to him when he's older, 'I can see a lot of your grandfather in you!'”

“‘I ate my grandfather’s ashes" is a killer opener to a college essay”

"Imagine how funny your speech at his wedding will be.”

Considering the video was posted on April 1st a few even wondered if this was a prank of some sort. To which Emeny replied, “I wish.”

Thankfully, she told DailyMail that Koah was “completely fine” after some water, and her father, who had a 'great' sense of humor, would have found the whole thing hilarious. So in a way, it was a bizarre source of connection.

“He never met him but now they are always together!”

A few days later, Emeny shared multiple selfies of her and her son, alive and well, and wrote in the caption: "Morning selfies from me and coco been a crazy 48 hours since this little one opened up my dads ashes 🙈"

TikTok · Tashjadewww.tiktok.com

It might be worth noting that Koah’s interest in the ashes could be related to pica, which causes kids and adults to crave non-food items like dirt, clay, paint chips, hair ,etc. It’s a serious issue, as it can cause a slew of health problems, and might be an indicator of developmental problems. That said, putting strange things in one’s mouth usually isn’t something related to pic for kids under two. Just something to be aware of.


For now, let’s just assume all is well, that it’ll never happen again, and thank our lucky stars it didn’t happen to us!

Mom's reaction to toddler's self haircut

An unsupervised toddler with a pair of scissors is nightmare fuel for parents. Will you find shredded books, a hole in your new couch, or a pile of lopped off hair when you emerge from your quick trip to the potty?

Toddlers may still be very young, but they are fast and have a knack for getting ahold of unapproved things quickly, usually to innocently inflict maximum destruction. TikTok user, @designerluxury4you, experienced just that in a shared video of their toddler proudly showing off the haircut she had given herself.

Experiencing your child giving themselves or their siblings a haircut seems to be a rite of passage for parents. But the way this mom handled the discovery is showing how gentle parenting is changing the game. It's pretty safe to say that most parents would react in a more expressive way and immediately remove the scissors from the child's hands. This mom responded in the kindest and most respectful way you can imagine and maybe the Internet is a little better for having seen it.

When the mom walks in to see her daughter holding a pair of child's scissors, she calmly asks, "What'd you do?" to which the now mullet-sporting toddler explains her actions. The little girl, Max, says, "I cutted all of it off and I put it on here." While the toddler is finishing her story we get a quick glimpse of the pile of blonde hair sitting on the nightstand. This is the point that seems to divide the commenters because the reaction isn't anger or even a stern tone. Instead, this shocked mom says, "Oh, wow. You did a really good job, Max."

The mom asked if her daughter felt better since her hair was no longer in her face, to which Max answered, "Yep." Max was given several options, including going to the hairdresser to fix it. The video cuts off before we find out the toddler's choice, but the mom's reaction was the topic of discussion in the comments.

One person wrote, "Seriously, this is impressive parenting. What a gift you are to her."

Another said, "Wow, you handled that so well lol she's so adorable."

Others were confused and more critical of the mom's calm reaction and lack of consequences. Someone wrote, "I just can't with gentle parenting. She lost me when she said no but allowed it anyway."

A different user expressed confusion, writing, "Not knocking gentle parenting but at the end of the day how does she learn this was wrong and not to do it again?"

There were multiple comments reminding people that even though the girl is a toddler, it's still her hair and she should get to decide what to do with it.

Watch the video below. Do you think this mom handled this situation well?

@designerluxury4u

Talent #gamimy #kidsoftiktok #girlpower #beautician ##parentsoftiktok

This story originally appeared two years ago.