September 10, 2025 • 6 mins
We got a question in for our American Mamas...
Do you remember as a child an adult being mean to you?
Do you remember as a child an adult being mean to you?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, we got a question for American mamas. Dear mama's
do you remember as a child an adult being mean
to you?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, let's ask rad Reckan mama's Mamma, mama, she said.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And joining us now our American mama's tearing Nutaville and
Kimberly Burtlessen. And joining us now, our American mama's tearing
Nutaville and Kimberly Burtlessen.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yes, you must have somebody in mind, Steven.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh, I'm sorry. One person.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I do have that, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I saw a study that talked about children because they're
so impressionable. They're very small, and they have very few
memories and experiences. If you are mean to a child,
it has a lifelong impression on them. And it made
me think of myself and I thought, well, who's been
mean to me? And I can tell you exactly the moments,
the times, the people. I don't remember any teacher, I
(01:03):
don't remember any names of people I knew when I
was little. But I remember miss young Blood and when
I was talking making a Christmas project, calling me up
to the front, and I was very quiet. I was
a very good little girl. She opened my hand and
she popped my hand with a metal ruler, and I
never forgave her for it. Well, great were you in
third grade? I was devastated. It hurt my heart so
(01:25):
much because it felt.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So because you're one of those because it wanted to please.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I wanted to please you know, So it was I
never forgot her, and I thought she was the ugliest teacher.
And from then on I couldn't stand her.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, no, I need to find her. What about you?
I can't handle it what someone's meaning to my sister's okay,
so I the only time I can remember. I don't
you know, I've said this before. If people were mean
to me, I didn't realize it because I thought why
would they, you know, I thought they were having a
bad day. I don't really know, but I do remember
Miss Fridge fourth grade, when she probably didn't mean to
(01:57):
be mean, but it crushed my soul. Were a learned
I was not good at math and no way, this
is still not fourth grade. And she said she was
introducing fractions, and she said she introduced it in such
a way like this is going to be a hard one.
We might need to part.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
You know, Miss Banks, I think you need to scoot
your desk over with miss Shepherd. Susan Shepherd, my friend,
and she said, Susan, you're gonna have to help Terry
with the whole. I was so embarrassed. I was fourth
grade and I was so embarrassed. Of course, I used humor.
That's how my family, you know, operates, so I did.
But this is what I remember about it that I
was so crushed. But I went home and I was
(02:35):
so sad and what nine nine years old? Ten years old?
And Dad said, what's wrong? And I said, I told
him the story, and I started bawling. I said, I'm
not stupid. I know I'm not stupid. And he put
me on his lap, sat on his laugh and he said,
he said, Terry, look, let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something about the Misbridges of the world.
Let me tell you what you have that miss Bridge
(02:55):
will never have. You've got a heart for people. People
respond to you. You're going to go so far in
this live, Terry, because you get people, you understand them.
You're very smart. You may not know math, and we'll
get a tutor if you need that, but you have
something she didn't have, that social skills. And from that
point it went onto this whole thing, and I felt
like I was elevated to the sky. I thought, I've
(03:17):
got to conquer anything and everything. My dad just told
me yeah, and so I don't know she was being mean,
but it was one of the days I'll never forget
as long as I live. The other one was the
remember those ladies that kept us at the at the nurseryom,
mom and dad.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
We go to church.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Yeah, at the wait not BB and uh like when
that lady hit you, Yes, oh my gosh. So she
I was little Terry and I were going to daycare.
Terry's sixteen months younger than me, so I felt like
I was so much older. And Terry did something in
a teacher slapped her and then put her in the corner,
and I went and stood in the corner with her,
(03:52):
and I remember, remember that with me.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
My sister was in the corner with me.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
It was the last time, last time we ever because
then you told Mammy.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And that was it.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
We never did go back.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Wow yeah. So how do you think those those moments
of adults being mean to you still affect you today?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I think it still affects you in how you treat children.
Because of going through an experience where someone's mean to you,
you never forget that that you never want to make
another child ever, Like we talked about the Karen at
the Philly game, you know, and taking the ball from
the boy or the CEO, you know, taking the hat.
Those kids will never forget that experience. But I'm telling
(04:31):
you what, they will never let that happen to anyone else,
any other kid. So sometimes I think those kinds of
experiences are important because it helps us have empathy, but
it also helps us in our own educating other children
or well.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And also it's like, you know, y'all know that I
love to collect books about the greats. The great you know, athletes, coaches,
business leaders, presidents, and what makes them so great is
the adversity they get around, whether it's a person, whether
it's health, whether it's financial, christ something has come into
their life and they were forced to get around that.
So I always look at that and I think, I
(05:07):
never want to be that chapter in someone's book where
I was the adversity that they had to get around
to become great. I never wanted to be that chapter.
And there are coaches in my children's lives that I thought,
that's your chapter. You know that, that's you. I'll never
be that in someone's chapter. I'll do everything I can
to not be.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's very interesting because I definitely want to be much
more of a mentor than an obstacle for sure. For folks, that's.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
More where my goal is.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Whether I achieve that or not, that's you know, that
can be very that's up to someone else's interpretation.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
But yeah, that's my.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Goal for sure. I think that's everybody. If you're in
this world and you want to be catapulted to your
own greatness, your own destiny, then that's all you can
really imagine wanting to do is to be that person
that's gonna uplift encouraged. Be like my dad. He made
us feel like that we could conquer the world, you know,
just be that.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
If you like to askar American Moments a question, go
to our website Americanground Radio dot com slash moments A
click on that the Mama's button tearing out of old
Kimberly bro listen, thank you so much, hey coming on
next to her on American Ground Radio. We are digging deep.
We'll very back. Stick around, keep your ear to the
Ground American Ground Radio with Lewis r Avaloni and Stephen
(06:20):
Parr
Okay, we got a question for American mamas. Dear mama's
do you remember as a child an adult being mean
to you?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, let's ask rad Reckan mama's Mamma, mama, she said.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And joining us now our American mama's tearing Nutaville and
Kimberly Burtlessen. And joining us now, our American mama's tearing
Nutaville and Kimberly Burtlessen.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yes, you must have somebody in mind, Steven.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh, I'm sorry. One person.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I do have that, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I saw a study that talked about children because they're
so impressionable. They're very small, and they have very few
memories and experiences. If you are mean to a child,
it has a lifelong impression on them. And it made
me think of myself and I thought, well, who's been
mean to me? And I can tell you exactly the moments,
the times, the people. I don't remember any teacher, I
(01:03):
don't remember any names of people I knew when I
was little. But I remember miss young Blood and when
I was talking making a Christmas project, calling me up
to the front, and I was very quiet. I was
a very good little girl. She opened my hand and
she popped my hand with a metal ruler, and I
never forgave her for it. Well, great were you in
third grade? I was devastated. It hurt my heart so
(01:25):
much because it felt.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So because you're one of those because it wanted to please.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I wanted to please you know, So it was I
never forgot her, and I thought she was the ugliest teacher.
And from then on I couldn't stand her.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, no, I need to find her. What about you?
I can't handle it what someone's meaning to my sister's okay,
so I the only time I can remember. I don't
you know, I've said this before. If people were mean
to me, I didn't realize it because I thought why
would they, you know, I thought they were having a
bad day. I don't really know, but I do remember
Miss Fridge fourth grade, when she probably didn't mean to
(01:57):
be mean, but it crushed my soul. Were a learned
I was not good at math and no way, this
is still not fourth grade. And she said she was
introducing fractions, and she said she introduced it in such
a way like this is going to be a hard one.
We might need to part.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
You know, Miss Banks, I think you need to scoot
your desk over with miss Shepherd. Susan Shepherd, my friend,
and she said, Susan, you're gonna have to help Terry
with the whole. I was so embarrassed. I was fourth
grade and I was so embarrassed. Of course, I used humor.
That's how my family, you know, operates, so I did.
But this is what I remember about it that I
was so crushed. But I went home and I was
(02:35):
so sad and what nine nine years old? Ten years old?
And Dad said, what's wrong? And I said, I told
him the story, and I started bawling. I said, I'm
not stupid. I know I'm not stupid. And he put
me on his lap, sat on his laugh and he said,
he said, Terry, look, let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something about the Misbridges of the world.
Let me tell you what you have that miss Bridge
(02:55):
will never have. You've got a heart for people. People
respond to you. You're going to go so far in
this live, Terry, because you get people, you understand them.
You're very smart. You may not know math, and we'll
get a tutor if you need that, but you have
something she didn't have, that social skills. And from that
point it went onto this whole thing, and I felt
like I was elevated to the sky. I thought, I've
(03:17):
got to conquer anything and everything. My dad just told
me yeah, and so I don't know she was being mean,
but it was one of the days I'll never forget
as long as I live. The other one was the
remember those ladies that kept us at the at the nurseryom,
mom and dad.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
We go to church.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Yeah, at the wait not BB and uh like when
that lady hit you, Yes, oh my gosh. So she
I was little Terry and I were going to daycare.
Terry's sixteen months younger than me, so I felt like
I was so much older. And Terry did something in
a teacher slapped her and then put her in the corner,
and I went and stood in the corner with her,
(03:52):
and I remember, remember that with me.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
My sister was in the corner with me.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
It was the last time, last time we ever because
then you told Mammy.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And that was it.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
We never did go back.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Wow yeah. So how do you think those those moments
of adults being mean to you still affect you today?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I think it still affects you in how you treat children.
Because of going through an experience where someone's mean to you,
you never forget that that you never want to make
another child ever, Like we talked about the Karen at
the Philly game, you know, and taking the ball from
the boy or the CEO, you know, taking the hat.
Those kids will never forget that experience. But I'm telling
(04:31):
you what, they will never let that happen to anyone else,
any other kid. So sometimes I think those kinds of
experiences are important because it helps us have empathy, but
it also helps us in our own educating other children
or well.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And also it's like, you know, y'all know that I
love to collect books about the greats. The great you know, athletes, coaches,
business leaders, presidents, and what makes them so great is
the adversity they get around, whether it's a person, whether
it's health, whether it's financial, christ something has come into
their life and they were forced to get around that.
So I always look at that and I think, I
(05:07):
never want to be that chapter in someone's book where
I was the adversity that they had to get around
to become great. I never wanted to be that chapter.
And there are coaches in my children's lives that I thought,
that's your chapter. You know that, that's you. I'll never
be that in someone's chapter. I'll do everything I can
to not be.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's very interesting because I definitely want to be much
more of a mentor than an obstacle for sure. For folks, that's.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
More where my goal is.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Whether I achieve that or not, that's you know, that
can be very that's up to someone else's interpretation.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
But yeah, that's my.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Goal for sure. I think that's everybody. If you're in
this world and you want to be catapulted to your
own greatness, your own destiny, then that's all you can
really imagine wanting to do is to be that person
that's gonna uplift encouraged. Be like my dad. He made
us feel like that we could conquer the world, you know,
just be that.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
If you like to askar American Moments a question, go
to our website Americanground Radio dot com slash moments A
click on that the Mama's button tearing out of old
Kimberly bro listen, thank you so much, hey coming on
next to her on American Ground Radio. We are digging deep.
We'll very back. Stick around, keep your ear to the
Ground American Ground Radio with Lewis r Avaloni and Stephen
(06:20):
Parr
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