Mum slams hospital employee for ill-advised comment to bullied daughter

Bringing her four-year-old daughter into hospital for treatment after a recent attack by a bully was bad enough, but one mother was left horrified by the reaction from the hospital employee who greeted them.

 

Mum Merritt Smith has slammed the man who greeted her and her daughter at the desk of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, for suggesting that the little boy who left a cut and bad bruising on the girl’s face did so because ‘he liked her’.

 

Uploading a photo of her daughter’s injury to Facebook, Smith wrote: “’I bet he likes you.’ Dear man at the registration desk at National Children’s Hospital. I’m positive that you didn’t think that statement through. As soon as I heard it, I knew that is where it begins. The statement is where the idea that hurting is flirting begins to set a tone for what is acceptable behaviour.”

 

“At that desk, you are in a position of influence, whether you realise it or not. You thought you were making the moment lighter. It is time to take responsibility for the messages we, as a society, give our children. Do not tell my four-year-old who needs stitches from a boy at school hitting her ‘I bet he likes you.’ NO,” she added.

 

Smith’s post has since gone viral around the world, with many parents agreeing with her statement and her sentiments. What are your thoughts?