Mother writes open letter to stranger who scolded her son

The incident left her child 'heartbroken' and too upset to eat

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A mother has written an open letter on Facebook after her son was left “heartbroken” by cruel comments from a stranger.

Hannah Sewell, from South Carolina was shopping at her local Aldi store with her four-year-old son, Caden, when the youngster became overcome with excitement.

After spotting his favourite apples in the supermarket, Caden began jumping up and down - but his enthusiasm wasn’t appreciated by one rude customer who scolded him for making noise.

The woman swiftly approached Sewell and told her to control her child before shouting at Caden directly.

Posting an open letter to the stranger, Sewell explained that the incident left her son “heartbroken” and too upset to eat.

"To the woman in Aldi that made my son and me feel like complete s*** today," Sewell wrote.

“I’m sorry you felt that my son being excited about getting a bag of his favourite apples and jumping up and down beside me was such a big deal that you needed to ask me to ‘control my kid because people are trying to shop.'

“When I told you that he cant help it and was just excited, and even apologised to you, you decided to roll your eyes and cut me off. And then you did something I really wasn’t expecting.”

Sewell goes on to explain that, as the woman bent down to approach Caden, he became even more excited as he thought she was coming to say hello. However, this wasn’t the case.

“Instead of saying hi, you got close to his face and asked him ‘What is wrong with you, does your mommy never take you anywhere?’

“Then you pointed out that he didn’t say anything back to you. When I informed you that he is unable to talk, you laughed and said, ‘No surprise there, he cant even walk through a store’, before walking away.

“I’m not sure if you can tell, but you broke his f***ing heart and mine when you did that. I left all of my groceries and walked out of the store.”

Sewell added that she took Caden to his favourite restaurant, Wendy’s, after the incident to try and cheer him up but that he was so upset by what happened he couldn't eat.

“I thought he would like some nuggets and he loves the apple slices there because they’re different colours and he can line the colours up on his tray. But he didn’t get excited. He didn’t smile or jump. He just sat there with the saddest f***ing look on his face while he picked at his food. I hope you’re happy with yourself.

“Signed, p****d off mama.”

Since sharing the open letter on Facebook, the post has gone viral and amassed more than 300,000 likes.

It was also flooded by thousands of comments from people expressing their sympathies and criticising the stranger for her actions.

“Man, you have a lot of self control being able to hold yourself back from telling that woman off... she had no right to do that to your kid. I hope your son is feeling better and hopefully has gotten over that awful experience,” one person wrote.

Another added: “I cannot believe the audacity some people have...he's an innocent little boy...how could someone speak to a child that way!? My heart breaks for you and your son. Good work on being such a great mum and trying to cheer him up.”