A mother has defended herself after feeling “judged” by both shop assistants and fellow customers during a recent shopping trip with her daughter.
Sammi Ovington from Surrey was in the city centre with her 3-year-old daughter Skye Martin when she was allegedly called “irresponsible” and her toddler branded “naughty.”
She explained in an emotional Facebook post that Skye has autism spectrum disorder, pica and hypermobility syndrome.
In her post, which is getting a lot of attention, Sammi wrote: “To the people just staring at me, whispering to each other and the blatant judging of my parenting, I hope your children don’t have bad days like this.”
She finished off by saying: “Today was hard. Never felt so judged by so many people. The noise of builders, cars, the beeping to cross the road and music in the shop was all too much for Skye.
“So she dealt with it the only way she knows how. To cover her ears, shake and cry. She was scared. She was upset. And she was panicking. She was NOT being naughty.
“And despite this, I love taking my little beauty shopping. I will not apologise if she is an inconvenience to your shopping trip!”
Image via Facebook/Sammi Ovington
The Mirror managed to get hold of spokespeople for both Wilko and Virgin Media. The Wilko representative said: “We’re sorry if the customer feels she was dealt with insensitively.
“We’re looking into the circumstances in detail and will respond directly to the customer once we’ve completed our investigation.”
A Virgin Media spokesperson told the newspaper: “We apologise to Ms Ovington if she feels she did not experience the discretion and sensitivity that we expect from all of our employees”.
Her full post reads:
Dear passers by,
This is Skye. She’s 3 years old. She has autism spectrum disorder, pica and hypermobility syndrome.
To the lady in Paperchase telling me Skye was naughty, I’m irresponsible and I shouldn’t give her things before I’ve paid for them, thanks for your input. Pica is a disorder where she feels the uncontrollable need to eat non edible things. Skye’s thing is paper. I’m sorry she ate the barcode before we paid but she isn’t naughty and I am not irresponsible.
To the member of staff in Wilko, no I wouldn’t rather take my child who is in the middle of a meltdown outside and come back in a minute. I think that’s what you would rather me do and I am disgusted with your attitude.
To the man trying to get me to change my cable provider, I am already with Virgin, I already think your service is shit and can you not see I’m trying to comfort a screaming, scared and upset child?
To the people just staring at me, whispering to each other and the blatant judging of my parenting, I hope your children don’t have bad days like this.
And to the old lady in Sainsburys who told me Skye was too old to be in a buggy and she should be walking, thank you for your input. Skye has hypermobility syndrome. Walking long distances for her is painful. So she goes in a buggy when she is too tired to save her little legs from hurting.
Today was hard. Never felt so judged by so many people. The noise of builders, cars, the beeping to cross the road and music in the shop was all too much for Skye. So she dealt with it the only way she knows how. To cover her ears, shake and cry. She was scared. She was upset. And she was panicking. She was NOT being naughty.
And despite this, I love taking my little beauty shopping. I will not apologise if she is an inconvenience to your shopping trip!
