October 27, 2013

Please let the pumpkins be

"To the person who stole my son's pumpkin"

Someone snatched a pumpkin from a porch on the 400 block of U Street.  The resident is not happy and left this sign:

To the person who stole my son’s pumpkin:
Thank you for the life lesson. This will teach him that sometimes people are mean for no reason and you have to just brush it off.
Because my son is 2-yrs-old and cannot read this sign, I will add:
You are an a‐‐‐‐‐‐‐.

Categories: Safety & Order
Tags: ,

31 Replies

  1. I like the last bit!

    Holly - October 27, 2013 @ 5:50 pm
  2. LOVE IT !!!!! Good one mom!!!!

    Sam - October 28, 2013 @ 10:44 am
  3. Love it! Good one, Dad!!!

    Dad - October 28, 2013 @ 11:51 pm
  4. The problem with this sign is that it completely ignores the fact that there are other children (older than her 2 year old) who actually can read and now will ask their parents what an “asshole” is. I understand the frustration over the situation, but lets not be so self-involved with our own children that we forget about other children. I hope this sign comes down ASAP.

    Mary - October 29, 2013 @ 12:32 am
  5. And also… Its just a pumpkin.

    Mary - October 29, 2013 @ 12:33 am
  6. Don’t be an asshole, Mary.

    Earl - October 29, 2013 @ 3:05 am
  7. Dear Mary,

    What Earl said.

    J.

    JimJimmyJames - October 29, 2013 @ 7:37 am
  8. Mary,

    I reconsidered your post and I agree with you. Sorry for the brash statement last night. I was a little drunk and depressed with my own life. You are right, though. If a person is going to go out of their way to speak on altruism and life lessons, then they should also realize how trivialized their actions become when they impose the same type of “life lessons
    on other peoples’ children.

    Earl - October 29, 2013 @ 9:10 am
  9. Mary,

    I’m pretty sure that most children who can read have heard the word asshole at least once. Also, you are most definitely an asshole.

    Misty - October 29, 2013 @ 9:27 am
  10. A very sad situation! What about the hundred pumpkins are stole every year in Chagrin Falls and suburbs near , just to use them for Pumpkin Roll activity;(

    Mary, it’s not just a pumpkin , this is a violation of the law! Don’t look this at a simple situation. Down here in Chagrin falls, seniors stole every night pumpkins from porch , next day little kids asking about their pumpkins.

    It’s a sad situation, how you explain a kid that stole is bad, when you have down here the seniors of Chagrin Falls stole pumpkins anywhere without any permission and with the authorization of their own parents!

    This is not right!

    This has to stop soon. Because a parent could lost the mind one of this days with this situation and I don’t know what could happen!

    Karina - October 29, 2013 @ 10:35 am
  11. So much fail.

    The mere existence of this sign proves the homeowner cannot “brush it off,” so their “life lesson” remains to be taught.

    Also, they threw away their moral high ground when they wrote that last sentence. Since they suggest they wouldn’t have written if their son could read it, they’ve clearly indicated they don’t care at all about any other child in the neighborhood who can read it.

    Thanks for the life lessons in selfishness, hypocrisy and grudge-bearing — most of us got that, even though they clearly did not.

    Sam - October 29, 2013 @ 11:15 am
  12. The pumpkins I loving grew were stolen last night. I can only hope the people who stole my pumpkins are in greater need of seeds then I. I can only hope they feared the pumpkins would fall victim to sloppy carving and they just know their designs were totally more awesome then mine would ever be. And I truly truly hope my pumpkins are sitting on a fancy porch full of decorations and their new owners are hugging and kissing them more than I. Bless.

    BroomHilda - October 29, 2013 @ 2:41 pm
  13. People. it is just a word. And everyone has one.

    nikki - October 29, 2013 @ 3:55 pm
  14. I had a small pumpkin taken from my house and I discovered it was a squirrel that had hauled it away. I was pretty sure it was a neighbor kid, but I sent out another one (same size) and sure enough later that day a squirrel knocked it over and rolled it away.

    Maybe it was an animal and not a human that is the culprit.

    Jane - October 29, 2013 @ 5:47 pm
  15. Then the squirrel is an asshole. :)

    By the way, i don’t think Mary’s an asshole.

    sage - October 29, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
  16. Hmmm Point made but by wording the last sentence the way you did…doesn’t make you look so great either. Cause OTHER FAMILYS DO HAVE SMALL CHILDREN THAT CAN READ and I am sure their parents don’t appreciate your choice of words. You would of been more respected had you not used it.

    K - October 29, 2013 @ 7:09 pm
  17. I get being MAD….I just wish people would realize they can make their point with out cussing. ESPECIALLY when you make it so public and in a neighborhood where there are other family’s and children to think of, not just your’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if you are asked to remove it, after all why should other kids be subjected to your cussing. :(

    K - October 29, 2013 @ 7:16 pm
  18. Thanks! Someone stole my children’s pumpkins just last Sat & we live in a suburb in WA state. They were so upset. This post is awesome! Way to tell it!

    Mandy - October 30, 2013 @ 12:30 am
  19. Theft is a crime, period. But, the sign isn’t effective to anyone with an IQ above 50.

    Frank N. Styne - October 30, 2013 @ 1:45 am
  20. As a parent, you have an obligation to be a role model not just to your own children but to all children in the community.

    “Name-calling” and anger is exactly what we should be teaching our children NOT to do.

    I can’t imagine that the parent who wrote this sign would encourage her child to call another child an “a-hole” at school if someone stole something from him.

    Mary - October 30, 2013 @ 8:46 am
  21. MY eight year old can read it! !!!! YOUR ANGRY and that is ok, but my kid should not have to see your foul moth badwords. PLUS – just get another pumpkin. It is just a pumpkin – teach your kid that.

    Stephanie - October 30, 2013 @ 10:04 am
  22. My sons (10,8,6) could also read that. I would explain to them the reason that type of language was used on the sign and that it is unacceptable to use that language until they are much older. Kids hear this sort of thing frequently and you can’t protect them from every bad thing they will hear, you just have to teach them how to react to it properly.

    I would also explain that the person who stole the pumpkin was in fact an asshole.

    Jeff - October 30, 2013 @ 11:03 am
  23. Everyone who is calling the original poster out for the last sentence is right. Everyone who is congratulating him/her is wrong.

    For everyone that says that it is ok to throw out obscenities because they kids hear them all the time, or they would explain that it is acceptable for adults to use them, etc. That is an absurd parenting style. It is OK to be a douchebag to other people in response to their douchebaggery? That is the life lesson? It is cool to be selfish and self-centered, disregarding other peoples’ children as long as your own aren’t negatively affected? And then people wonder we we are becoming a nation of ingrates and low-lifes rolling with double standards.

    By the same token, would it be cool for the original poster to have porn displayed on her front porch? Because kids will see sex inevitably and parents should be able to explain that sex is something that happens when people get older?

    Jeff, I am glad you would explain that to your kids…and I am sure your kids in turn wouldn’t go to school and call other kids assholes when they disagree with them.

    Jeff's wife - October 30, 2013 @ 12:22 pm
  24. I guess I’m going to have to disagree with “My Wife”

    It is an absurd parenting style to expect others to say/do only things that I find acceptable for my children.

    Would it have been cool for the original poster to have displayed religion? Christian, Muslim, Jewish…anyone of those might offend somebody. Or a post supporting the Westboro Baptist Church. I have a much harder time explaining the Westboro group to my kids than explaining the term asshole (even though the term asshole would be appropriate for the Westboro group).

    If my kids would call another kid an asshole I’m sure the school would handle the situation appropriately. My kids don’t use that language and actively avoid other children who do use it.

    Jeff - October 30, 2013 @ 1:39 pm
  25. It’s not just the use of the obscenity, its the public display of anger that I think is troubling example for our children. When our kid is faced with a bully, what to do we tell him to do? Yell at him? Curse at him? Hit him? It’s one thing to stand up for yourself, but the mom who who wrote this sign crossed the line.

    Last year, a similar incident happened not too far from this mom’s house. The family of that young boy placed a small sign outside their house that said “To the person who stole my child’s pumpkin: Please return his pumpkin as he is too young to understand why it is gone.”

    I loved that sign. It was sweet. It was kind and it effectively communicated the problem to the pumpkin-stealer.

    That is the role model I would want for my children and for the children in my community. Not this one.

    Mary - October 30, 2013 @ 6:24 pm
  26. The mom who wrote this sign is fine, has a sense of humor and probably a fantastic wife. When someone steals your stuff that you worked hard for, they are thieves, and its ok to call a thief an “a__hole”. If you don’t think your 6 year old hasn’t heard that word 2000 times your naive.

    MIke - October 30, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
  27. You go girl! All these whiners going on about using the word “asshole” is absurd when we need to stay focused on the jerk(s) who stole and destroyed a two-year-old’s pumpkin. It’s this misplaced goofiness that has gotten our country in the mess it’s in. Let’s go after the rotten kid(s) who destroyed the pumpkin. Also, I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time because this sign is so refreshingly to the point. I like cutting the crap and getting to the point. Indeed, whomever stole and destroyed that little boy’s pumpkin, which was part of a little pumpkin family, IS AN ASSHOLE! If it was a squirrel, well, then give him another one because we should share with nature and that’s a good life lesson, too. After all, it’s time for trick or treat, right?! Happy Halloween everybody!

    Anna T. - October 31, 2013 @ 12:30 am
  28. My Cousin, Becky, whom I still have yet to meet… I applaud you! Sure, its JUST a pumpkin, but to a toddler, who I’m sure loved every minute of being a ‘big boy’ to carve his pumpkin, its crushing to have yours be the only one pumpkinknapped. However, we could say this to Thomas..’just think, apparently your pumpkin must’ve been the most awesome one in the neighborhood.. why else would someone snatch only yours?…’
    Smiles and a bright outlook!… his was the envy of someone… xxoo

    Cousin Jennifer - October 31, 2013 @ 3:26 am
  29. Someone being offended by something is different that something being offensive. It is true that alot of people have gotten soft on things and are turning into little bitches, so they find it to be within their rights to complain about or to get hurt by everything. That doesn’t mean that everything that people are offended or upset by is non-offensive by nature and that we should disregard common decency.

    The religion reference is absurd. I hope you realize that.

    Whether or not the person who stole the pumpkin is an asshole is not in question. What is being argued is that the person who wrote a sign and put it in front of their house is also an asshole. The disregard that was shown by the person who stole the pumpkin is mirrored in the very actions of the person who had their pumpkin stolen and then retaliated with a sign. I wish I lived in that neighborhood so I could call the police and have them pay a visit to the person who is posting obscenities for all to see.

    Cousin Jennifer…I agree with the last portion of your post…because it is big. It does the job of reconciling “tragedy” and “turmoil” with positivity. That is a skill that most of the posters in here apparently never learned.

    The statement that “I will do this thing because it has no negative effect for my child” is a selfish one. It says that they are not MORE concerned with themselves than they are with others, it says that they are ONLY concerned about themselves.

    Anna…the point that you state might be the point the person was trying to make. Who exactly are you to say what we “need to stay focused on?” Maybe it isn’t the misplaced goofiness that has gotten our country in trouble and instead it is the sense of entitlement and self-righteousness that makes us think that we are above the law when wronged, violence is permissible as retribution, and other people don’t matter when we are angry.

    Smarter than all of you - October 31, 2013 @ 3:14 pm
  30. “It’s not just the use of the obscenity, its the public display of anger that I think is troubling example for our children.”

    Mary, the public display of anger is there no matter what was written on the sign. The other sign you mention was also a public display of anger. I get you find it offensive because of the words used but I think most people find this sign to be humorous. I would be willing to bet that whoever committed this act will be found because of the media exposure.

    “The religion reference is absurd. I hope you realize that.”

    Of course it was absurd, just like thinking this sign was offensive. Many people find one religion or another offensive for a variety of reason. You would really call the police over this?

    Anna was right. The person who destroyed the pumpkin is what I find offensive.

    Jeff - October 31, 2013 @ 4:21 pm
  31. For what it’s worth, I live next to this family and they are very, very nice people. Couldn’t be better neighbors.

    quentin - November 23, 2013 @ 6:38 pm

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